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It was supposed to be such a beautiful event. Instead the 1972 Munich Olympics will forever be remembered for the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes by the hands of the Black September Organization.

Around 4:30 a.m. on September 5, 1972 eight terrorists broke into the apartment complex at 31 Connollystrasse. Security was inadequate to say the least. The Israeli team had no armed security with them and the Germans, in the attempt to paint a picture of a new and peaceful Germany, fell short in their preparations. The actual Olympic guards were equipped with just radios. Black September wanted to force Israel to release over 240 imprisoned terrorists, as well as to exploit the international media coverage of the Olympics to publicize their cause.

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Several athletes managed to escape upon hearing the terrorists trying to break into the apartments, while other athletes were spared because the terrorists could not find where they were staying. Two athletes were murdered during the initial minutes of the attack, while nine more were captured and, as we know now, were held under terrible conditions. For the duration of the day Munich police chief, Dr. Schreiber, led negotiations with the terrorists. He managed to extract several deadline extensions. At one point late in the day, representatives of the police inspected the hostages to ensure they were still alive. Upon exiting they reported that they saw five terrorists although they were concerned that there might be more.

Late in the evening the terrorists and hostages were transported to Furstenfeldbruck airport (about twelve miles outside of Munich) by helicopter. The terrorists were told that they would be given a plane to take them to an Arab country. However, the German authorities had no intention of letting the terrorists leave with the hostages. Waiting for the terrorists were five snipers and an assault team hiding in the aircraft.

The problems were many. The teams themselves were regular police with no anti-terrorist training. The team positioned on the plane decided to leave it due to inadequate cover, although they did not inform anybody of this decision because they and the other police taking part in the rescue operation had no communication equipment. A third problem was that the police had very little intelligence on the terrorists. In fact, there were eight terrorists, not five. Therefore, even if every sniper had hit his target there still would have been three terrorists alive.

The operation fell apart from the very beginning. Some of the snipers missed their targets and a major firefight broke out between the terrorists and the authorities. By the time the battle ended, all nine Israeli athletes had been murdered in the most horrific ways. Five terrorists were eliminated and one German police officer was killed as well.

The Munich Olympics have become synonymous with a botched rescue operation and has been examined many times to understand what should not be done in the future. Governments realized the importance of a specially armed, armored and trained hostage rescue force. Germany created GSG 9, which has proven itself to be an effective hostage-rescue unit. Many governments also realized the need for real-time tactical intelligence. Likewise, hostage-rescue units realized the need for a plan. The Germans in Munich were essentially making it up as they went along. A final lesson was the need for the Olympics in general, and member countries in particular, to take security seriously. (Israel no longer relies on the security provided by host countries. The Israel Security Services actively protects Israeli athletes.)

Munich has taught us what happens when things are approached without adequate forethought and preparation. The Torah in this week’s parsha cautions us in the most severe terms regarding what happens when we take a haphazard approach to our relationship with G-d and His mitzvot. The Torah states (26:21): “If you walk with Me keri (haphazardly), and don’t obey Me, I will punish you seven times the amount your sins.”

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Rabbi Dr. David Hertzberg is the principal of the Yeshivah of Flatbush Middle Division. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of History at Touro College. Comments can be emailed to him at [email protected].