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Documentary of the Week: Munich Deathlist
Sun, 12 Feb, 7.30pm.2006
In 1972 at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany 11 Israeli
athletes were murdered by the Palestinian terrorist organisation,
Black September. Within days of the massacre Israeli Prime Minister
Golda Meir secretly ordered the Mossad to hunt down and assassinate
all those who were responsible for the planning and execution of
the Olympic massacre.
In the next seven years, more than 25 terrorists and terror
masterminds were killed. This campaign, conducted by a specially
trained hit-team, code named 'kidon' (bayonet in Hebrew) has been
the subject of innumerable accounts by writers, journalists and
filmmakers and is the basis of Steven Spielberg's new feature film
"Munich."
Up till now, no-one in the Mossad was permitted to speak in detail
about the extraordinary series of events, even for Spielberg's
film. Munich Deathlist has secured this exclusive access and will
therefore be an important documentary companion to the Hollywood
release.
Some of the interviews will include:
1. Kidon - the Mossad's hit squad. The only interview with I.Z, the
first Commander of Kidon, about the establishing of the unit and
its targets. Interview with T.B - a senior Mossad operative about
the operation mode and Interview with A.G - Chief Operations
Officer of the Mossad.
2. On December 8, 1972, Dr. Mahmoud Hamshari, PLO delegate to
France, heard the phone ring in his flat. As he answered and
identified himself, he heard a high pitched whistle. The telephone
exploded. Dr. Hamshari died in the hospital several hours
later.
This programme Interviews in Israel and on location in Paris with
Mossad agents in charge of following Hamshari, planting the
explosive device in his telephone and calling him.
3. In July 1973, most Kidon operatives gathered in the town of
Lillehammer in Northern Norway. They had concrete information that
the most desired Mossad target, Ali Hassan Salameh (the operations
officer of Black September), lived there. The Kidon assassins
waited for their target and shot him. The following morning they
realised they erred. The man they killed was an innocent Moroccan
waiter. The Norwegian police arrested the assassins who broke down
and confessed the murder, giving away the details of the
operation.
That incident dramatically changed Mossad operations and led to the
pinpoint accuracy of future killings.
Interviewees include: Zvi Zamir, Head of Mossad in the 1970's. T.B
- A senior Mossad official and Uri Ne'eman - Head of IR
(intelligence research ) in the Mossad.
4. In 1979 a car exploded in central Beirut, killing the Red Prince
Ali Hassan Salameh. That was the last hit. It was the result of
extensive information-gathering throughout Europe and the Middle
East, with an important British link: The Mossad agent Erica
Chambers, a UK citizen, traced the Red Prince in Beirut and
"marked" him.
T.B flew to Lebanon, put together a sophisticated explosive device
and handed it over to Erica, who put the explosives in Salameh's
car. She received the sum of 10 million dollars for her services,
returned to England and vanished.
Zvi Zamir, head of Mossad, reported to Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin: "We have completed the mission."
Interviewees include: The agent who assembled the explosive device;
Senior CIA operatives; Zvi Zamir, Head of Mossad.
