‘Operation Wrath of God’ targeted more than a dozen suspects across Europe and the Middle East.
New Delhi:
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, eleven Israeli athletes were killed by members of the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir secretly ordered Mossad, Israel’s elite intelligence agency, to track down and eliminate those responsible for the massacre.
Over the next seven years, a covert campaign known as ‘Operation Wrath of God’ mounted and murdered more than a dozen suspects across Europe and the Middle East. This clandestine operation, involving a specially trained team known as ‘kidon’ (Hebrew for bayonet), has been the subject of numerous books and documentaries and is the central theme of Steven Spielberg’s film “Munich”.
The Munich Massacre
On September 5, 1972, eight members of Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village in Munich. Armed with AK-47s, they took eleven Israeli athletes and coaches hostage, killing two in the first attack. The terrorists demanded the release of 234 prisoners from Israeli prisons. The standoff lasted for hours, during which German authorities tried to negotiate. The terrorists then moved to an airport where they were told that two Bell UH-1 military helicopters would take them to Cairo. A failed rescue attempt by German police resulted in the deaths of all remaining hostages, a German police officer and five of the terrorists.
Operation Wrath Of God
In the aftermath of the Munich massacre, Prime Minister Golda Meir, together with Mossad chief Zvi Zamir and counter-terrorism advisor Aharon Yariv, devised a plan to eliminate the leadership of Black September and other related terrorist groups. This clandestine mission involved carrying out assassinations on foreign soil, with enormous political and ethical implications. Israeli leaders believed that decisive action was needed to prevent future attacks and achieve justice for the Munich victims.
Planning the operation
A special unit within the Mossad known as ‘kidon’ was tasked with carrying out the killings. This unit consisted of highly trained assassins skilled in various forms of combat and covert operations.
The target list included key figures believed to be responsible for planning and carrying out the Munich attack, as well as other high-ranking members of Black September and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The goal was to “crush the serpent’s head” by eliminating its leadership.
The murders
In the following years, Mossad agents carried out a series of high-profile assassinations throughout Europe and the Middle East. Some of the most notable operations include:
1. Wael Zwiter
The first target was Wael Zwiter, a Palestinian poet and translator living in Rome. The Mossad believed he was the head of Black September in Italy and was involved in the Munich attack. On October 16, 1972, two Mossad agents ambushed Zwaiter in the lobby of his apartment building and shot him eleven times. However, it later emerged that the information about Zwaiter was not confirmed and his connection with the Munich massacre was questionable.
2. Mahmoud Hamshari
Mahmoud Hamshari, the PLO representative in France, was another major target. Mossad agents followed him to his Paris apartment and, posing as journalists, managed to plant a bomb in his phone. On December 8, 1972, they detonated the bomb, killing Hamshari.
3. Hussein Al Bashir
Hussein Al Bashir, a PLO operative based in Cyprus, was subsequently targeted. On January 24, 1973, Mossad agents placed a bomb under his bed in a hotel in Nicosia. The explosion killed Bashir instantly.
4. The Beirut operation
One of the most daring operations took place in Beirut on April 10, 1973. Mossad agents, along with Israeli commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, infiltrated Beirut disguised as women. The operation targeted three key figures: Mohammed Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan and Kamal Nasser. The assassination squad, including Ehud Barak, who later became Prime Minister of Israel, managed to reach the homes of their targets and eliminate them.
5. Ali Hassan Salameh
Ali Hassan Salameh, known as the ‘Red Prince’, was one of the Mossad’s most elusive targets. Salameh was Black September’s chief of operations and a close associate of former PLO chief Yasser Arafat. After a failed attempt in Norway, where an innocent Moroccan waiter named Ahmed Bouchikhi was accidentally murdered, the Mossad intensified its efforts to locate Salameh. The breakthrough came in 1979 when an undercover police officer who had befriended Salameh and his wife provided information. On January 22, 1979, Salameh was killed by a car bomb in Beirut.
