On This Day in Jewish History: September 5th, 1972

https://www.instagram.com/p/CExqJT6F9rg/

#onthisday, 1972, 8 Palestinian terrorists from the Black September group, stormed the Israeli athletes’ apartments in the Olympic Village in Munich, Germany and took them hostage. By September 6th, all would be murdered on the world stage. We mourn the losses of the 11 souls pictured here and remember them in blessing.

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The Palestinians killed two of the Israelis soon after and took 9 others hostage. The terrorists demanded that 230 Arab prisoners and 2 German terrorists be released by Israel as well as a plane to fly them to their destination in the Middle East

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When the terrorists thought that a deal had been reached, they brought the hostages to the Munich Airport. The German police set this up as a trap and a terribly planned hostage rescue ensued that led to the murder of the remaining 9 Israelis.

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The German snipers were armed with the wrong guns, the armoured cars to save the Israelis got stuck in traffic, and the police who were pretending to be flight crew left their post. This tipped off the terrorists and when the German police began firing, the terrorists responded with fire.

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A gun battle erupted followed by a standoff during which the terrorists killed the hostages. By the end of the night, all of the hostages, five terrorists, and a German policeman were killed. The other three terrorists were arrested.

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The Olympics suspended competition for 24 hours for the first time in history and held a memorial service for the Israeli athletes at the main Olympic stadium to the ire of some participating nations.

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There were discussions of cancelling the Olympics but International Olympic Committee, President Avery Brundage decided that the games should continue to show that the terrorists did not win.

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After the event, the Israeli Government ordered a group of Mossad agents to find the rest of the Black September terrorists responsible and kill them in Operation Wrath of God, as personified in the movie: “Munich.”

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Text Source: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/background-and-overview-munich-olympic-massacer

Image Source: https://www.jewishcanada.org/home-page/jewishnews/ioc-to-honor-11-israeli-victims-of-the-1972-munich-massacre

✍: @rebeccaroth01

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