How 1972 Munich Massacre was carried out by Palestinian terror group Black September, brutally torturing then killing 11 Israeli Olympic team members
IN the early hours of September 5, 1972 Palestinian terrorists took 11 Israeli Olympians hostage in the Munich athletes' village before brutally killing them.
The murders have returned to the public's mind with full force after photos emerged of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a wreath laying at the same cemetery where the terrorists were buried.
But what happened at the Munich Olympics, and what does the current controversy teach us about Israel's treatment of Palestinians today?
How the massacre unfolded
It began at 4.30am when eight members of Black September, a wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), scaled a chain-link fence, disguised in tracksuits.
They were helped by unsuspecting athletes who were also sneaking back into the Olympic Village.
The terrorists carried duffel bags loaded with AKM assault rifles, pistols and grenades.
The group forced their way into the apartments of the Israeli Olympic team and were confronted by Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling referee, and Moshe Weinberg, a wrestling coach in Apartment 1.
Weinberg was shot while fighting with the attackers, who forced him at gunpoint to lead them to the rooms of the remaining Israeli coaches and athletes.
They bypassed Apartment 2 where the shooting team were sleeping.
In Apartment 3 the terrorists gathered more hostages and forced them back to Apartment 1.
Wrestler Gad Tsabari broke from the group and dashed down a flight of stairs toward an underground parking garage, and Weinberg took advantage of the confusion to again fight the attackers.
Weinberg had nearly gained control of a terrorist’s gun when he was shot and killed.
Despite being on crutches, Yossef Romano, a weightlifter, also made an attempt to disarm one of the terrorists.
Romano was shot, reportedly castrated in front of his teammates, and his mutilated body left on the floor of Apartment 1 as a warning.
The torture the athletes endured was revealed by a documentary, Munich 1972 & Beyond, with the wife of one of the victims saying others were beaten and sustained serious injuries, including broken bones.
The terrorists demanded the liberation of prisoners, including more than 200 Palestinians held in Israel, and a plane to fly them to the Middle East.
At about 10pm on September 5, believing they had reached an agreement, the terrorists led the hostages on to buses that took them to waiting helicopters.
The helicopters carried them to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, 15 miles west of the Olympic Village, where police were lying in ambush.
Police officers killed five of the eight Palestinians during a failed rescue attempt.
A West German policeman died in the crossfire and all the hostages were slaughtered.
The other three Palestinian hijackers were captured.
The next month, however, following the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615, the West German government released them in a hostage exchange.
Mossad responded with the 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon and Operation Wrath of God, tracking down and killing Palestinians suspected of involvement in the attack.
Modern controversy
Last night an angry exchange erupted between Iraeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Corbyn.
Netanyahu took to Twitter to say: "The laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorists who perpetrated the Munich massacre and his comparison of Israel to the Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone - left, right and everything in between."
Corbyn's response came quickly: "What deserves unequivocal condemnation is the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces since March, including dozens of children."
He justified his presence at the wreath laying by saying he was there for those killed in a 1985 Israeli airstrike on the headquarters of the PLO.
The situation has added more heat to rumours of anti-Semitism in the Labour party, which have been bubbling since 2015.
The exchange between Netanyahu and Corbyn embodies the current controversy, and calls back to an Isreali stance towards Palestinians that has remained largely unchanged since 1972.
The greatest ongoing tension lies in Jewish settlement homes being built in occupied Palestinian territories.
Occupation of areas like the West Bank has been described as a "creeping annexation" and was condemned by the UN in 2016.
Controversy received a fresh stoking last week after video emerged of Jeremy Corbyn comparing Israel's actions to Nazi Germany.
In July, Israel took another step on the road of subjugation, passing a controversial law declaring only Jews had the right of self-determination in Israel.
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The legislation stated: “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”.
It also stripped Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew.
Actions such as these has led some - but by no means all - western politicians to condemn Israel.
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