Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response (16 page)

The plan had evolved. Sayeret Matkal was no longer acting alone in Beirut. Their target was still the primary objective, but it was not the only one. The Chief of Staff and other intelligence officers figured that they would get one chance to strike in the heart of Beirut before terror organizations fortified their positions, rendering Israeli counterterror raids too dangerous. Spring of Youth had to be a one-hit wonder. Additional forces, paratroopers and naval commandos, would strike other terrorist targets. The first paratrooper team, led by Lieutenant Colonel Amnon Shahak, the commander of Battalion 50 and later the IDF’s chief of staff and a government minister, was to strike a seven-story building in west Beirut, where dozens of terrorists from Naif Hawatmeh’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) resided. The second additional target, a building in northern Lebanon, was suspected of serving as a demolitions factory, and was to be blown up by a paratrooper force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Shmuel Firsburger. The final target, a suspected weapons factory, was to be detonated by Colonel Shaul Ziv, the commander of Shayetet 13, the naval commandos. Colonel Emanuel “Mano” Shaked, chief infantry and paratroops officer, was the commander of this part of the mission.

Before the raid was set into motion, the chief of staff approached Mano and shook his hand. “You believe in God?” he asked.

“That question pisses me off,” Mano responded.

“Start praying anyway, because he’ll be the only one who can help you,” the chief of staff said, smiling. He winked and left.

The sea was smooth as pool water on the afternoon the forces set sail. The missile boats motored west, toward Cyprus, and then casually slipped into the shipping lane between Cyprus and Beirut. Time crawled. At midnight each force disembarked at its destination. The team from Sayeret Matkal jumped into naval commando black rubber boats, wearing plastic ponchos over their wigs and jackets. Several hundred yards from the shore the naval commandos cut the engines and began to paddle. They moved fast, in unison, in silence. As they approached the Sands Hotel beach the commandos slipped over the side and helped the passengers ashore. They hit the beach with dry feet and dry wigs.

Three rented Buick Skylarks waited in the parking lot. Mossad combatants, disguised as tourists, were at the wheel. All sixteen of the Unit’s men squeezed into the cars and set off. The man behind the wheel of the lead car told Barak and Betzer that shortly before he had noticed a pair of Lebanese policemen loitering around the target area. Barak did not outwardly respond, nor did he radio this significant development back to the command center on the missile boat, fearing they would order him to abort the mission. Had he tried, he would have quickly discovered he was unable to transmit. The army signals radio was damaged when the team jammed into the car. Major Biran would worry in silence.

The cars joined Beirut’s smooth nighttime traffic. They covered five northbound miles on the turnpike in twenty uneventful minutes. Around the corner from Vardun Street they piled out. It was 0130. The Mossad combatants, many of whom held regular civilian jobs and simply made themselves available for “assignments,” drove down the street and parked, ready to assist at a moment’s notice. They got out of their cars and spoke quietly among themselves, casually leaning on the hood and chatting.

Barak and Betzer led their team, walking arm in arm. Two policemen brushed past without giving them a second look. They split, each to his own target. The “brunette,” Barak, stayed downstairs with the “blonde,” Amiram Levine; the Unit’s doctor, Shmuel Katz; and one naval commando. Betzer led three warriors through the lobby and up the stairs at a silent gallop. They stopped on the sixth floor and stuck explosives beneath the knob of Abu-Yussef’s door. Betzer squeezed the rubber transmit button three times, signaling to Barak that he was ready to go. Each team would transmit an identical signal. When all were in place,

Future Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in white jumpsuit, releasing hostages from Sabena Flight 571 at Lod Airport, May 1972.
Photo courtesy GPO.

A happy group photograph, taken just days before the Black September attack, of most of the members of the 1972 Israeli Olympic Squad.

1) Shaul Ladany, athlete; 2) Shmuel Lalkin, head of the delegation; 3) Kehat Shorr, marksman; 4) Mark Slavin, wrestler; 5) Zelig Shtroch, marksman; 6) Andrei Spitzer, fencing coach; 7) Esther Shachmorov, hurdler/sprinter; 8) Yitzhak Caspi, deputy leader; 9) Dan Alon, fencer; 10) Gad Tsabari, wrestler; 11) Eliezer Halfin, wrestler; 12) Shlomit Nir, swimmer; 13) Henry Hershkowitz, marksman; 14) Yitzhak Fuchs, team chairman; 15) Yossef Romano, weight lifter; 16) Dr. Kurt Weil; 17) Amitzur Shapira, athletics coach; 18) Tuvia Skolsky, weight lifting coach; 19) Ze’ev Friedman, weight lifter; 20) Yaakov Springer, weight lifting judge; 21) David Berger, weight lifter; 22) Moshe Weinberg, wrestling coach

The Israeli Olympic team parades in Olympic Stadium, Munich, August
26, 1972
, during the opening ceremony.
Photo courtesy Associated Press.

A member of the Black September commando group is seen wearing a hood on the balcony of the building where they are keeping the hostages.
Photo courtesy Associated Press.

Dr. Manfred Schreiber, Munich’s chief of police, looks at his watch while discussing the deadline with Issa, at right, outside the Israeli living quarters in the Olympic Village. The two men in the background are plainclothes police.
Photo courtesy Associated Press.

Tony, second in command of the terrorists, leans out of a window to talk to Issa during negotiations with police chief Schreiber, far left, and West German interior minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher outside the Olympic Village residence in Connollystrasse 31.
Photo courtesy Associated Press.

German police, armed with submachine guns and dressed in unassuming tracksuits, climb onto the roof of the building where the Israeli athletes are being held.
Photo courtesy Associated Press.