honorsmiddleeast-blog

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We had no choice. We had to make them stop, and there was no other way ... we are not very proud about it. But it was a question of sheer necessity. We went back to the old biblical rule of an eye for an eye ... I approach these problems not from a moral point of view, but, hard as it may sound, from a cost-benefit point of view. If I'm very hard-headed, I can say, what is the political benefit in killing this person? Will it bring us nearer to peace? Will it bring us nearer to an understanding with the Palestinians or not? In most cases I don't think it will. But in the case of Black September we had no other choice and it worked. Is it morally acceptable? One can debate that question. Is it politically vital? It was

General Aaron Yahriv, the director of Operation Wrath of God 

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WORKS CITED

-  Cosgrove, Ben, and Nilanjana Bhowmick. "Terror at the Olympics: Munich, 1972." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.

-  "Black September Organization." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.

-  Montague, James. "The Munich Massacre: A Survivor's Story." CNN. Cable News Network, 5 Sept. 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.

-  "Munich Massacre." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.

-  "Operation Wrath of God." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.

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When I was a kid, my father used to say, ‘Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.’ Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there were eleven hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”

Jim McKay, a sports caster and news anchor who delivered the news of the Israeli team’s demise 

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A picture of the Israeli Olympic team in the flag bearing ceremony of the Munich Olympics 

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A remembrance drawing of the Munich Massacre by Mark Podwal, an American artist.  This drawing was posted by the New York Times in 1972

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A video that describes the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which lays out the background behind the Munich Massacre, Black September, and the People’s Liberation Army 

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Political Cartoon illustrated following the Munich Massacre.  An Israeli athlete has been stabbed in the back with a knife labeled ‘arab terrorists’.  His body is laid on an olympic pedestal and he holds an extinguished olympic torch with the smoke spelling out the words brotherhood.  

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The remainder of the Israeli team returning home and withdrawing from the games, the coffins of the victims following them behind.  

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German Arabic speaking policewoman talking to the terrorist (above) German authorities and members of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) negotiating terms with one of the Arab terrorists (below) 

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The Jewish victims of the Munich Massacre

Moshe Weinberg, 33, Wrestling Referee

Yosef Romano, 31, Weightlifter

Yosef Gutfreund, 40, Wrestling Referee 

David Berger, 28, Weightlifter 

Mark Slavin, 18, Wrestler

Yaakov Springer, 51, Weightlifting Coach

Ze’ev Friedman, 28, Weightlifter

Amitzur Shapira, 40, Track Coach

Eliezer Halfin, 24, Wrestler

Kahat Shor, 53, Shooting Coach

Andre Spitzer, 27, Fencing Referee 

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I do not understand and I do not accept it.

Shaul Ladany, one of the surviving members of the Israeli team after the massacre on the Olympic Association’s decision to not allow a moment of silence in the London Games due to the fact it would ‘exclude’ the Arab nations.  

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this is the live broadcast from ABC news during the Munich Massacre in 1962

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I’m proud of what I did in Munich because it helped the Palestinian cause enormously … Before Munich the world had no idea about our struggle. But on that day the word Palestine was repeated all over the world,

Jamal al-Gashey, one of the only Munch Massacre terrorists who is still living.  His current location is unknown.  

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WHAT HAPPENED

On September 5th, the terrorist organization Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village in Munich.  They went to the Israeli team’s quarters and killed 2 members of the Olympic team and kidnapped the other 9.  A botched rescue attempt in the Furstenfeldbruck air base outside of Munich  by the German authorities resulted in the casualties of 5 of the Palestinian terrorists but not before the terrorists killed all 9 of the hostages as well.  The other three terrorists were captured by the German government but freed immediately after the hijacking of the Flight Lufthansa 615.

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This is an aerial photograph depicting the aftermath of the standoff between the German policemen and the Arab terrorists.  Not pictured in this photograph is a Boeing jet positioned on the tarmac originally with sixteen German policemen dressed as flight attendants.  However, when they saw that there were 8 terrorists they voted to abandon the mission without contacting the authorities, leaving only 5 snipers to deal with the rescue mission.  You can see the wreckage of the two helicopters that transported the terrorists and the hostages, one of them completely destroyed by a grenade explosion.  

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IF WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LEARN FROM HISTORY, WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THIS EVENT

After the massacre, the Israelis and the Mossad struck back through the Operation Act of God and the numerous airstrikes to Palestinian refugee camps.  Around 200 people were killed in the air strikes and countless more in the covert operations where people who were involved were killed as well as people who were merely suspected of being involved. Some with even civilian casualties such as the Lillehammer affair where a Moroccan waiter was mistakenly taken as the Palestinian militant Ali Hassan Salameh and the actual assassination of Salameh where a remote controlled car bomb was detonated killing Salameh and his bodyguards along with 4 civilians and injuring 18 others.  The Munich Massacre serves as a reminder that acts of terror will only lead to more acts of terror, the vicious cycle of violence will continue to cycle and innocents will be affected for the worse.  The Munich Massacre took away fathers, sons, brothers, and friends for both the Israelis.  With every attack the Palestinians launched, the Israelis responded equally or even more brutally.  I think that we can learn from history by learning from our mistakes and working to ensure something like this never happens again.  

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WHAT WAS ACHIEVED THROUGH VIOLENCE

The unwarranted acts of violence of the Munich Massacre orchestrated by Black September, a little known faction of the People's Liberation Army resulted in many achievements. 

 For one, Black September gained instantaneous fame on an international scale, due to the fact that hundreds of reporters from the entire world were present live on the nights of the massacre to report the Olympic games.  The organization also gained the support from fellow Arab countries.   For example the Libyan Prime minister at the time Muammar Gaddafi allowed asylum to the surviving terrorists following the Luftanasia hostage flight on October 29th and refused to try them in court.  The fallen terrorists were also given full military honors and burials in Libya. 

Something else that was achieved was the renewed interest in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, countries who were not invested or allied with either side began to research on this matter and take extreme precautions.  Resulting in counter-terrorism organizations such as the GSG 9 in Germany being established,   Preexisting organizations and task forces were also remodeled and strengthened to ensure this event of terror would not happen again.  

In response to this massacre, Israel led 10 airstrikes on PLO bases in Syria and Lebanon where up to 200 people were killed.  Israel also implemented Operation ACT OF GOD, a covert large scale series of assassinations on high level members of Black September or those involved with the Munich Massacre.