Does the story of Munich and the Israelis who were killed for “the sin of being Israeli Jews” make you feel more or less connected to the Israeli story?
The Olympics provided an audience for terrorism and through it, the whole world learned about the Palestinian cause. The one surviving kidnapper, Jamal Al Gashey, argued why he did what he did in an interview, saying:
“I’m proud of what I did in Munich because it helped the Palestinian cause enormously … Before Munich the world had no idea about our struggle. But on that day the word Palestine was repeated all over the world.”
In fact, two years after the massacre, Yasser Arafat, who endorsed the Munich operation, was received by the United Nations, shocking the world by saying:
“Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”
In the case of Munich, a terribly challenging question emerges: Does terrorism work?