- After the horrific 1972 Munich Olympics massacre that shook the whole world, Israel implemented a program of sending covert agents abroad to kill enemies, an approach that is still active today.
- The national intelligence agency of Israel Mossad launched Operation “Wrath of God” to hunt down Black September members, targeting the group’s leadership with covert assassinations overseas.
- Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister, who at the time served as a commando leading an elite military unit, recalls the Munich massacre as a shock that ignited public outrage and a drive for revenge.
- Under Prime Minister Golda Meir, Israel devised a strategy to “smash the head of the serpent” by targeting Black September’s leadership in Europe and the Middle East.
- In 1973, Israeli operatives, disguised as women, assassinated three senior Palestinian leaders in Beirut in a daring mission involving speedboats and military deception.
- Ehud Barak himself, disguised as a woman during the Beirut mission, led the team that killed Mohammed Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser.
- Mossad’s overconfidence led to a failure in Norway, where agents mistakenly killed a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchikhi, instead of Black September leader Ali Hassan Salameh.
- After years of tracking Salameh, Mossad finally assassinated him in 1979 in Beirut, using a car bomb, after infiltrating his social circle.
- Israel continued targeted assassinations against its enemies, including Palestinian militants during the Intifada, and later expanded operations to Iranian targets.
- Mossad’s assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh highlights the ongoing “shadow war” with Iran, aimed at preventing its nuclear capability development.
