On this date, September 5th, in 1972, "Palestinian" terrorists attacked the Israeli team at the Olympics in Munich, Germany. When it was over, 11 Israeli athletes and one policeman were dead.
The Munich Olympics took place just 27 years after the end of WWII, and less than 10 miles from Dachau concentration camp.
Two of the terrorists, Lutif Afif and Yusuf Nazzal, had taken jobs at the Olympic village in order to gain access and scout the location. Nazzal was spotted inside the Israelis' room the day before the attack, but since he was an employee he was not questioned.
On the day of the attack, the terrorists took advantage of the extremely lax security at the Olympics, and tried to gain entrance to the Israeli athletes' apartment. Two of the Israelis blocked the door and allowed some of their teammates to escape, before being shot and killed. The "Palestinians" took 9 other hostages, and demanded the release of 200 "Palestinians" from Israeli jails.
The "Palestinians" were offered money by the Germans to release the hostages, but they responded as devout Muslims would, that "money means nothing to us, our lives mean nothing to us". They beat the hostages on live television. Walter Tröger, mayor of Olympic village, was allowed to visit the hostages, and reported how impressed he was with the dignity of the Israeli prisoners and the fact that they were resigned to their fate. He reported that there were 2 terrorists, when in fact there were 8.
The Germans refused the offer of Israeli special forces (who would have great success in the Raid on Entebbe 4 years later). Instead, they relied on untrained border patrol agents with no experience in hostage operations.
The next day, the terrorists and hostages moved to the airport, where the German police planned to make the rescue attempt. It was only at this point that the Germans learned that there were 8 terrorists. The undercover police on the waiting plane decided on their own to simply walk away before the terrorists arrived. With only 4 untrained "snipers" against 8 heavily armed terrorists, the odds of success seemed to be remote, but the German authorities decided to go ahead with the rescue. The "snipers" had no radios, and no way to coordinate their actions. They were poorly placed, so that during the rescue attempt they shot each other in the crossfire, while being unable to shoot the terrorists hiding behind the aircraft. In the end, the terrorists shot the hostages, then used grenades to further mutilate and burn the bodies. None of the hostages survived. Five terrorists were killed, and three were arrested.
The Olympic games continued for 12 hours after the first shooting occurred, and as the hostages were being held in the Olympic village. Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage said "the games must go on". After the failed rescue attempt, Dutch runner Jos Hermens was quoted, “You give a party, and someone is killed at the party, you don’t continue the party. I'm going home,” but few shared his feelings. During a West German soccer game before an adulatory home crowd, Jewish-sympathizer protesters displayed a sign saying "17 dead, already forgotten?" They were quickly led away by suddenly-vigilant police.
For fear of upsetting "other members of the Olympic community", little mention was made of the murdered Israelis at the 1972 games. Any proposal to honor the murdered Israelis at subsequent Olympics has been met by threats of boycott by Muslim-majority nations. To date, the IOC has refused any memorial to the dead Israelis.
The attack was carried out under the direction of Yassir Arafat, with funds provided by Mamoud Abbas.
The three surviving terrorists were released by Germany less than two months later, as part of a concocted Lufthansa hijacking.
Previous Days in the "Religion of Peace™":
Sept 4: East Timor jihad
Sept 3: Mongols vs. Mamluks
Sept 2: Richard "Lionheart" vs. Saladin
Sept 1: Beslan Massacre
Aug 29: Jihad on European Synagogues
