Munich Olympic attacks: Black September’s dark past

Published on 18/07/2012 00:00

The Black September name was derived from 16 September, 1970, when King Hussein of Jordan declared martial law in response to an attempted coup – resulting in the deaths or expulsion of thousands of refugee Palestinians.

The group was driven by disaffected members of Arafat’s Fatah, who sought direct confrontation with Israel. It was organised into cells, without formal leadership, and operated on a need-to-know basis, meaning even a captured member could reveal little under interrogation.

Following the Munich attack, Israeli premier Golda Meir ordered the Mossad to kill those known to have been involved.

By 1979, during what became known as Operation Wrath of God, at least one Mossad unit had assassinated eight PLO members who Tel Aviv considered to have participated in some way.

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