Munich: Mossad's Revenge | |
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Created by | Atlantic Productions |
Written by | Tom Whitter |
Directed by | Tom Whitter Tom Pollock |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 1 |
Production | |
Running time | approx. 48 min. |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Release | 26 January 2006 |
Munich: Mossad's Revenge is a documentary produced by Atlantic Productions and aired on Channel 4 in Britain concerning Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre. The documentary includes interviews with many of the agents involved in the operation.
Munich: Mossad's Revenge was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award in 2006 in the "Specialist Factual" category. [1]
According to the producers, Atlantic Productions, the real people involved in Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre agreed to speak for the first time "to set the record straight" because of the recent release of Steven Spielberg's film Munich. The documentary contains interviews with David Kimche, the British-born former deputy chief of Mossad; Efraim Halevy, former chief of Mossad, also British-born; Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel and formerly a member of an elite special forces unit which raided Beirut to kill three PLO figures (Operation Spring of Youth); and two anonymous agents the producers claim were involved in the hits identified only as officers K and G. [2]
The producers of the documentary listed several discrepancies between the film Munich and the information it obtained from its interviews with Mossad agents. It noted that the film suggests one group carried out almost all the assassinations, whereas in reality it was a much larger team. Mossad did not work with a mysterious French underworld figure as portrayed in the film. The assassination campaign did not end because agents lost their nerve but because of the disastrous Lillehammer affair in which an innocent Moroccan waiter was killed, an incident not covered in the film. The assassination targets were not all directly involved in the Munich massacre, a fact which is only acknowledged in the last 5 minutes of the film. [2]
The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, carried out by eight members of the Palestinian militant organisation Black September. The militants infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, and took nine others hostage, who were later killed in a failed rescue attempt.
The Black September Organization (BSO) was a Palestinian militant organization founded in 1970. Besides other actions, the group was responsible for the assassination of the Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Tal, and the Munich massacre, in which eleven Israeli athletes and officials were kidnapped and killed, as well as a West German policeman dying, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event. These attacks led to the creation or specialization of permanent counter-terrorism forces in many European countries.
Ali Hassan Salameh was a Palestinian militant who was the chief of operations for Black September and founder of Force 17. He was assassinated in January 1979 as part of an assassination campaign by Mossad.
The Lillehammer affair was the murder of Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter and the brother of the French musician Chico Bouchikhi, by Mossad agents in Lillehammer, Norway, on 21 July 1973. The Israeli agents had mistaken their target for Ali Hassan Salameh, the chief of operations for Black September. Six of 15 of the Mossad team were captured and convicted of complicity in the killing by the Norwegian justice system in a major blow to the intelligence agency's reputation.
Peter Zvi Malkin was a German-born Israeli secret agent and member of the Mossad intelligence agency. He was part of the team that captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and brought him to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity.
The 1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon took place on the night of April 9 and early morning of April 10, 1973, when Israeli army special forces units attacked several Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) targets in Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon. The operation is generally considered to have been part of Operation Wrath of God, Israel's retaliation for the Munich massacre at the Summer Olympics in 1972.
Munich is a 2005 epic historical drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, co-written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth. It is based on the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas, an account of Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre.
One Day in September is a 1999 documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Michael Douglas provides the sparse narration throughout the film.
Operation Bayonet was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals they accused of being involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. The targets were members of the Palestinian armed militant group Black September and operatives of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Authorised by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the autumn of 1972, the operation is believed to have continued for over twenty years. While Mossad killed several prominent Palestinians during the operation, they never managed to kill the mastermind behind Munich, namely Abu Daoud.
Atef Bseiso was the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) liaison officer with foreign intelligence agencies. He was assassinated in Paris in 1992. Several theories exist regarding the reason for his murder. According to one, alleging he played a role in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, his execution was part of a Mossad assassination campaign. Others argue it was an Israeli operation aiming to disrupt relations of the PLO with Western intelligence agencies. The PLO denied Bseiso had any connection to the Munich operation.
Jamal Al-Gashey is a Palestinian militant who was a member of the Black September offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization and one of eight militants who carried out the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. He is visible several times in television news footage of the event, identifiable by his blue- and white-striped jacket. During the failed rescue attempt by the Munich police, which resulted in the deaths of nine Israeli hostages and five of the Black September militants, Al-Gashey was shot in the wrist attempting to aid a fellow Black September member.
Michael Harari was an Israeli intelligence officer in the Mossad. He was notably involved in the Lillehammer affair, an attempted revenge killing following the Munich massacre that instead resulted in the murder of an innocent individual in a case of mistaken identity. He was later involved in Operation Entebbe.
Abdel Wael Zwaiter was a Palestinian writer and translator. He was assassinated as the first target of Israel's Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre. Israel considered Zwaiter a terrorist for his role in the Black September group, while his supporters argued that he was "never conclusively linked" with Black September or the Munich massacre and was killed in retribution. Today Zwaiter is regarded with a high degree of certainty as innocent.
The Spy Machine is a UK documentary special about the work of the Mossad, written and narrated by Gordon Thomas.
Sylvia Raphael Schjødt was a South African-born Israeli Mossad agent, convicted of murder for her involvement in the Lillehammer affair in Norway.
Erika Chambers, also known as Agent Penelope, is a British-Israeli Mossad operative behind the action on 22 January 1979 that killed Ali Hassan Salameh, leader of Black September and lead plotter behind the Munich massacre.
The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, popularly known as Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman and Shin Bet.
Operation Damocles was a covert campaign of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad in August 1962 which targeted German scientists and technicians, formerly employed in Nazi Germany's rocket program, who were developing rockets for Egypt at a military site known as Factory 333. According to Otto Joklik, an Austrian scientist involved with the project, the rockets being developed were programmed to use radioactive waste.
Adnan Al-Gashey was a Palestinian militant and one of eight Black September Organization militants who invaded the Israeli quarters at the Munich Olympic Village during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The group took hostage nine of the Israeli Olympic delegation after killing Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano in the initial takeover. He was the uncle of Jamal Al-Gashey, who also took part in the Munich operation.
Mohammed Safady is a Palestinian militant and one of eight Black September members who perpetrated the Munich massacre, in which they invaded the Israeli quarters at the Munich Olympic Village during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, taking hostage nine of the Israeli Olympic delegation after killing Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano in the initial takeover.