The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre

The current war between Israel and the terror group Palestinian-backed Hamas brought memories of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre when eight members of the Palestinian militant organization during the infamous Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village on September 5, 1972 and killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine others hostage. The terrorists bargained for the release of over 200 Palestinian prisoners.  Disguised as athletes, they forced their way into the quarters of the Israeli team and shot the wrestling referee and a wrestling coach.  The terrorists demanded helicopters to bring them to a waiting airplane.  Meanwhile, German police (who had no sharp-shooting experience) bungled the operation as some disguised as pilots abandoned their posts as the helicopters arrived with the hostages. Two of the Palestine terrorists inspected the plane and when found empty, they shouted to their companions as police snipers opened fire and a gun battle ensued.  Terrorists then fired at the hostages who were bound.  When the smoke cleared, 11 Israelis, 1 Munich police and 5 terrorists were killed while three were captured.  The three surviving perpetrators who were arrested only to be released the next month in the hostage exchange following the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane.

Operation Entebbe

Another infamous act of the Palestinian terrorists was the hijacking of an international civilian flight operated by Air France, between the cities of Tel Aviv and Paris in July 1976. Israelite commandos rescued the hostages within  an hour after landing in Entebbe Airport in Uganda.  All seven terrorists were killed while the Israelis lost one soldier and three hostages in the operation known as Thunderbolt. On June 27, the Air France Airbus with 248 passengers was hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine an two members of the German Revolutionary Cells.  The hijackers demanded the release of 40 Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel. The hijackers were joined by three others in Entebbe and received support from the Ugandan government  under Idi Amin.The hijackers moved the hostages to an  unused building and separated non-Israelis and several Arab-Jews from the group. Two days later, 148 non-Israelis were released while the airplane crew remained . “Operation Thunderbolt” was then launched which lasted 90 minutes with 100 commandos rescuing the hostages.  The Ugandan soldiers started shooting at the commandos, wounding five of them  but the Israeli unit  commander Yonathan Netanyahu, brother of present Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was killed.  Of the 106 hostages, three were killed with the remaining 103 were flown to Israel via Kenya.  President Amin ordered the killing of 246 Kenyans living in Uganda in retaliation for Kenya’s assistance to Israel in the rescue mission.  About 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed while 11 Mig-17 fighter planes of Uganda were destroyed by the Israelis to prevent them from  pursuing the commandos.