Three terrorists were captured but freed in October in exchange for hostages aboard a hijacked German airliner.
Posted on 09/05/25
| News Source: JPost
Jerusalem, Israel - Sept. 5, 2025 - On this day in history, Palestinian terrorists, affiliated with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, killed 11 members of Israel's delegation to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
On the morning of September 5, Black September terrorists infiltrated the apartments of the Israeli athletes by scaling a chain-link fence while carrying duffel bags loaded with grenades and assault rifles.
The terrorists took 11 athletes and coaches hostage between two apartments, and started a 24-hour-long standoff with West German police officers.
Terrorists initially shot Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano, leaving nine hostages in Black September's hands for 24 hours.
The remaining nine were killed in a standoff rescue operation between police and the terrorists at Fuerstenfeldbruck airport near Munich. West German police killed five Black September terrorists in the shootout.
Black September demanded that in return for the athletes and coaches, 236 prisoners incarcerated in Israel would be released and safely transported to Egypt.
Three terrorists were captured but freed in October in exchange for hostages aboard a hijacked German airliner. However, the rescue mission failed, resulting in the death of the nine hostages. Subsequently, prime minister Golda Meir authorized Operation Wrath of God, in which everybody suspected of planning or participating in the Munich massacre was tracked down and eliminated. In a Friday statement, the Foreign Ministry drew parallels between the hostages held by Black September in Munich for 20 hours to the hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas. “53 years later, history repeats itself: 48 Israelis are still held hostage in Hamas’ dungeons - by another Palestinian terror group,” the statement on X/Twitter read. “From Munich to Gaza, the message is clear: terror targets Israelis simply for being Israeli.” He recruited immigrants Eliezer Halfin and Mark Slavin to the Israeli national team. Weinberg was 33 when he died and was survived by his wife and infant son, Guri. Guri Weinberg later became an actor and portrayed his father in the 2005 movie Munich about the massacre. Yossef Romano was a Libyan-born weightlifter for the Israeli national team. He was the Israeli weight-lifting champion in the light and middle-weight divisions for nearly a decade before he went to the 1972 Olympics. He competed in the middleweight Olympic division, but could not finish one of his sets due to a knee injury. He was meant to fly back to Israel on September 6 for surgery. Romano was survived by his wife, Ilana, and his three daughters. He was 32 when he died. Ze’ev Freidman was an Israeli weightlifter. He placed twelfth in the competition, one of the highest of any member of the Israeli 1972 delegation. David Berger was an American-born Israeli weightlifter. He was born in Ohio, but immigrated to Israel after he won a gold medal in the 1969 Maccabiah Games. He competed in the 1972 Olympics, but was eliminated early on. Yaakov Springer was an Israeli weightlifting coach and judge. Notably, he also took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as a young adult. He was 51 when he died. Eliezer Halfin was an Israeli wrestler who was born in the former Soviet Union. He was a member of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s wrestling team and was once ranked 12th internationally. He was 24 when he died. Yossef Gutfreund was an Israeli wrestling referee. Munich was his third Olympics as a referee. On the morning of September 5, he threw all 290 pounds of his weight against the door of his apartment and yelled out a warning, allowing his weightlifting coach, Tuvia Sokolsky, to escape. He was 40 at the time of his death. Kehat Shorr was a sharpshooting coach from Romania. He trained the Israeli marksman team for the Munich Olympics. He was 53 when he died. He was survived by his wife and daughter. Mark Slavin was a wrestler for the Israeli Olympic team. He was due to make his Olympic debut on the day he was kidnapped. He was the youngest victim and was only 18 when he died. Andre Spritzer was an Israeli fencing coach. He helped found Israel’s fencing academy. He was 27 when he died and was survived by his wife and child. Amitzur Shapira was the head coach for Israel’s Olympic track team. He was 40 when he died and was survived by his wife and four kids. One West German police officer, Anton Fliegerbauer, was also killed in the crossfire. According to the report, Willi Pohl helped forge passports for the Black September terrorists and took one of the terrorists around Germany before the start of the games. Pohl was arrested in 1972 for possessing grenades and other arms, which German police believed he was holding for the terror group in case of a retaliatory attack. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Who were the 11 Israelis killed in the Munich Massacre?
Moshe Weinberg was the Israeli national wrestling team’s coach. He was also the coach of Hapoel Tel Aviv. Weinberg was a former Maccabiah gold medalist and was both the youth and senior champion in freestyle Greco-Roman wrestling.Neo-Nazi aided Black September
German publication Der Spiegel reported in 2012 that a German neo-Nazi aided the Palestinian terrorist group in planning the massacre.