Zvi Zamir and the Munich massacre

 Not many would be knowing about Zvi Zamir who died at the ripe old age of 98 last month on January 2. He was the head of Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service at the time of the tragic incident of the Munich Olympics of 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were killed in the Olympics village by a Palestinian terror group called Black September.

The Israeli Athletes were sleeping peacefully early in the morning on that fateful day in their rooms when a group of terrorists belonging to the supporting the cause of Palestine state sneaked inside the Olympics village. There was complete lax of security, not even a barbed wire or any visible security personnel around. When the terrorists armed with guns in their bag packs were struggling to jump over the wall around 4 AM, a bunch of drunk American athletes loitering around helped the terrorists jump the wall, mistaking them as fellow athletes.

In few minutes 11 Israeli athletes were taken as hostage by the terrorists who demanded the release of 234 Palestinians slending time in Israeli jails. By 5.30 AM they dumped the first Israeli body on the outside pavement, as another Israeli, Andre Spitzer who earlier joyfully spoke to his wife about how he was enjoying the Olympics milieu was gunned down by the Palestinians as he sat with his hands tied.

By this time Golda Meir who was then the Prime Minister of Israel (she was also known the Iron lady a title which she shared along with India Gandhi at the time) was already made aware of the evolving situation in the middle of night in Israel. She refused to budge to the demand of the Black September terrorist group stating her countries policy of not negotiating with terror groups.

A botched up operation to rescue the athletes attempted by German commandos ended in fiasco, killing as non of the Israeli athletes survived. Zvi Zamir, the Mossad Chief called the German operation unbelievable as the rescue attempt was badly planned and executed - no bulletproof vests, no helmets, no night vision goggles. The operation went wrong all along as the helicopter exploded, the hostages were machine gunned, lying in a pool of blood.

Munich Olympics incident changed everything. Israeli reaction was swift. The iron lady Golda Meir confabulated with Zvi Zamir to take out all the terrorists involved in the Munich massacre one by one in a spectacular manner to send out a message that the enemies of Israel won't be spared. Zamir headed the "Operation Wrath of God". Like actual wrath of God the response by Israeli Secret Service Mossad was terrible and brutal - shooting in Rome, bombing in Paris and followed by another one Cyprus took out a bunch of Black September terrorists involved in the cold blooded killing in Munich.

It took several years to take out all the terrorists of Black September involved, but the mission was finally accomplished. The Munich incident took place in 1972. More than fifty years later as Zvi Zamir is dead at the age of 98, Israeli - Palestinian conflict continues. Hostages are still taken as history repeats itself.