I'm watching "One Day in September" on Current TV, and I decided to read the Wiki article, which turned out to be timely:
"The documentary begins with an advertisement by the Munich Tourism Bureau with a beautiful young girl inviting the world to visit the city for the Olympics, then shows interviews with the wives of some of the murdered athletes, including Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer. The film also features the first known filmed interview with Jamal Al-Gashey, allegedly the only surviving terrorist. Al-Gashey, who is in hiding in Africa, wears a cap and sunglasses and his face is slightly blurred.
There are various shots of the Games getting under way, and attention is given to the lax security the Germans had at the Games. The terrorists are seen preparing for the assault; Al-Gashey claims that he and the other members were trained in Libya before going to West Germany to begin the assault."
Amazing how much terrorism Qadhafi funded.
PS: One Day in September is a MUST SEE documentary.
3 comments :
Thanks Mojo, for this post and the previous one about "One Day in September". It is a first rate documentary. I will see that film when I can. I was 16 when the Munich Massacre happened. Remember watching Jim McKay and his fellow sports announcers stuggling to cover a story totally different from what they were use to. Remember the early false reports that most or all of the Israeli athletes had been rescued successfully and then the horror when the truth slowly emerged that all 11 Israeli athletes and coaches had been killed during the bungled German rescue attempt.
Qadhafi was the leading sponsor of terrorism in the 70s and early 80s. He backed not only terrorism in the Middle East against Israel, the West and pro-Western Arab states, particularly Jordan; Qadhafi also funded and trainied IRA terrorism against Britain and terrorism in South American, particuarly in Columbia and Venezuela. Qadhafi's last major act of terrorism was the bombing of Pam Am Flight 103 over Scotland in Dec. 1988 that killed more than 200 people.
The massacres at Lod Airport in Israel in June 1972 that killed more than two dozen people and at the Munich Olympics were the birth of modern terrorism. Munich would be the first time the term terrorism would be used. There is a clear historical lineage from Munich to 9/11 and beyond.
PS: The most complete history of the Munich and the Israelis response is "Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response (2005) by Aaron J. Klein, a former officer in Israeli military intelligence. Klein's book has a lot more detail on Israel's operations and why certain people were targeted and others were not. One point he makes is that Israel's assainiations were not only about revenge, but also about dettering future attacks by making clear that Israel would track down and kill any terrorists that committed any more deadly massacures like Munich.
Finally, just want to mention the profund and moving sense of joy I and many others felt at the 2004 Athens Olympics when an Israeli athlete won Israel's first gold medal (wind surfing) and for the first time at the Olympics, the Israeli flag was raised and the Israeli National anthelm was played.
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