Israel releases documents on Munich Olympics hostage crisis

Tel Aviv (dpa) - Israel‘s State Archives has released 45 documents relating to the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, the anniversary of which falls on September 5.

Half of the documents put online Wednesday have never been published. They include cabinet minutes and ministerial consultations.

The hostage drama began when eight Palestinian gunman entered the Munich Olympic village, and seized members of the Israeli delegation.

Two Israelis were killed in the initial takeover. Nine more, including athletes, coaches and referees, were killed along with five gunmen and one policeman in a bungled German rescue attempt. The gunmen had planned to fly the hostages to another country.

Israel asked the German government and the International Olympic Committee to suspend the games. According to one released document, the Israeli embassy in Bonn said the heads of the Olympic Committee and the West German authorities had decided not to stop the games because, among other reasons, "German television has no alternative programming."

The collection also details how the Israeli government feared the tragedy would affect sensitive relations with West Germany. One document has a hand-written note from then-Israeli prime minister Golda Meir requesting that "that the rage not be directed against Germany."

Another is a Foreign Ministry request to its representatives abroad to try to prevent a wave of criticism against Germany because of the failure of the attempt to rescue the hostages.

There is also an account of a report by Zvi Zamir, the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, who said the German rescue was "carried out badly and ineptly."

Another document includes the report of an Israeli committee set up to investigate what went wrong, and which concluded that Israeli security arrangements abroad "did not keep up with changing needs."

The state archives noted that parts of some documents were deleted because they had not been cleared for publication. Other documents remain classified. dpa jab jln Author: Jeff Abramowitz