(wind howling) (ominous music) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) - [Reporter] Two were killed in their rooms, nine were killed at the airport tonight, they're all gone.

(Shaul speaking in foreign language) (easy-going music) (tense music) - [Avery] We declare today a day of mourning.

And will continue all the events.

The games must go on.

- When the Zionists are changing their Russian minds, we are ready to meet everybody, every Jew.

- Nine were killed at the airport tonight.

They're all gone.

(rhythmic music) - [Narrator] Cairo, 1954.

Colonel Nasser seizes power in Egypt, much to the delight of the people, who adore him.

An Arab leader who opposes the presence of the West in this part of the world.

And Nasser is quick to act.

He seizes the Suez Canal, outraging France and Great Britain, who fear it will weaken them strategically, and more importantly, economically.

- Colonel Nasser conducted a vicious propaganda campaign against our country.

Be assured that he is not a man who can be trusted.

- [Narrator] Leaders in neighboring countries let themselves be seduced by the Arab Spring unleashed by Nasser.

And it is Nasser who encourages the Palestinians to form the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the PLO.

The organization's charter states that armed conflict is needed for a free Palestinian state.

(explosion blasting) Like Nasser, the PLO takes rapid action.

(soft music) (horns honking) (traffic rushing) (people speaking in foreign language) (Salah speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (Salah speaking in foreign language) (traffic rushing) (Salah speaking in foreign language) (gentle music) (birds chirping) - The type of the new Jew was created here in Israel.

It started with us coming to this area, 600,000, under the British mandate, and all of a sudden, a war broke out and we were attacked by seven different Arab armed forces, and against all odds, we won the war.

The founding fathers of the state of Israel understood that in order to survive in this hostile environment and hostile area, we have to be strong, because there is no mercy to the weak.

(driving music) It is a question of deterrence.

Even though it is very difficult to deter the terrorists because they are ready to die.

So the deterrence is by cutting the head every now and then, even though knowing that somebody will replace them.

The terrorists must understand that no one of them is immune.

He should think all the time that somebody might come and kill him.

(tense music) (table slamming) (Salah speaking in foreign language) - [Narrator] In 1966, West Germany gets its reward when Munich is chosen to host the 1972 Olympic Games.

The happy Olympics are intended to wipe out the memories of the Hitler-dominated games of 1936 and to show the world that West Germany is once again an international player.

(people chattering) (soft music) (clock ticking) - [Reporter] This is an ITN news flash from the Olympic Village in Munich, where early this morning, armed Palestinian guerillas raided the sleeping quarters of the Israeli team.

The gunmen shot dead two Israelis.

(Magdi speaking in foreign language) - [Reporter] The guerrillas are demanding the release of 250 Arabs held prisoner in Israel.

(telephone ringing) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (gentle music) - [News Anchor] Just before dawn this morning, about five o'clock, Arab terrorists armed with submachine guns, faces blackened, climbed the fence, went to the headquarters of the Israeli team, and immediately killed one man, Moshe Weinberg, a coach, two shots in the head, one in the stomach.

(clock ticking) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) (tense music) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) (soft music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) - [Reporter] The guerrillas are demanding the release of 250 Arabs held prisoner in Israel and have set noon as the deadline for their release.

(bright music) - [Narrator] While the Olympic Games are still going on, the Germans tell Israel that Palestinian terrorists have penetrated the Olympic Village.

Racewalker Shaul Ladany and his roommates are in the room, two doors down from the Palestinian hostages.

(Shaul speaking in foreign language) (door clattering) - [Narrator] Nine Israeli athletes are being held hostage in the apartment.

Two athletes are killed.

It's not known how many Palestinian hostage takers there are.

(soft music) (soft music) - [Meron] The prime minister in my time was Golda Meir, and Munich for her was an extremely sensitive, and a highly difficult problem to resolve.

There were a number of reasons.

(soft music) First reason, you will never believe it.

Her sister died around the same time, her oldest sister, she was the mentor, the tutor of Golda from when she was a young woman, and that affected her very much.

Secondly, she as the prime minister of Israel, is responsible, among other things, directly for the Mossad and for the General Security Services.

Thirdly, it happened in Germany, and Golda Meir had a serious problem with Germany.

- [Narrator] In the morning of September 5th, the German Olympic Committee, the president of the International Olympic Committee, and the German minister of internal affairs meet.

They decide the games must go on.

Stopping them could make the police's job difficult.

(crowd cheering) What's more, the German TV companies have no alternative programming.

- Prime Minister Golda Meir did not believe that there is a new Germany, and unlike the prime minister, Ben-Gurion, who convinced that there is a new Germany, not only is there a new Germany, but Germany is going to become the key player in Europe, and a major player on the international scene.

On this, they had huge arguments.

(ominous music) (footsteps tapping) (radio announcer speaking in foreign language) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (tense music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (somber music) (utensils clinking) (Amnon speaking in foreign language) (gentle music) - [Narrator] In the early '70s, the Israeli army feels invincible.

During the Six Day War, Israel had subjected Egypt, Jordan, and Syria to humiliating defeats.

Intelligence Officer Amnon Biran is part of an Israeli elite unit, Sayeret Matkal, which specializes in antiterrorism.

(soft music) (Amnon speaking in foreign language) (Amnon speaking in foreign language) (people chattering) (Amnon speaking in foreign language) (driving music) (driving music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (reporter speaking in foreign language) (somber music) - [Narrator] The Palestinians demand to be transported to Cairo, along with the hostages.

They are prepared to release the Israelis if their demands are met.

The Palestinians agree to fly them by helicopter to Furstenfeldbruck Airfield, where a Lufthansa aircraft is waiting to take them to Egypt.

(soft music) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) - [Reporter] Has now left, proceeded along a subterranean route.

(Magdi speaking in foreign language) - [Reporter] One of the helicopters now proceeds out over the Olympics site, out over the main stadium where half the lights are on.

The second helicopter is now following it and moving out around this tremendously high, major Olympic tower as they depart to a destination we, of course, as yet do not know.

(dramatic music) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) (tense music) (Amnon Speaking in foreign language) (Amnon Speaking in foreign language) (gentle music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (sirens wailing) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (gunshots popping) (somber music) - [Narrator] The chaos at the airport is being observed by a baffled Zwi Zamir, head of Mossad, who was sent to Munich by Golda Meir.

(somber music) (Hagai speaking in foreign language) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (ominous music) - [Narrator] Due to inadequate communication between the Olympic Village and the emergency crew at the airport, the IOC believe the hostage situation is over and all the hostages have been freed.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

(Hagai speaking in foreign language) (somber music) (Hagai speaking in foreign language) (Hagai speaking in foreign language) - They have now said that there were 11 hostages.

Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning.

Nine were killed at the airport tonight.

They're all gone.

(soft music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (crowd cheering) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) - [Hagai] "Dear Chancellor Brandt, the head of our intelligence service, General Zamir, has just came back from Munich, where he went at my request.

He was present at the airport during your operation against the terrorists.

To my regret, the report that he has made to me is somber and disquieting.

My impression is that there is a need of a precise inquiry into what happened.

Sincerely yours, Golda Meir."

- She ordered the head of the Mossad at the time, "You go after these people."

And Israel went after these people, gave them carte blanche.

You do what you have to do.

I basically had to release a press release of what the prime minister said at the time.

And then I was asked by a number of correspondents, "What next?

How are you going to respond?"

What are you going to do?"

And of course, I couldn't tell them that there is a decision to go after these people.

And therefore I said, "We will have to do what every normal country do under these circumstances."

- [Hagai] It was a very heavy feeling of sadness.

(sorrowful music) Everybody was so sad, so frustrated.

It was like a national shock.

- Golda Meir, the prime minister, asked the director of Mossad to chase those that were involved in the assassination of our athletes and to kill them one by one.

(soft music) It is not that one morning I wake up as a director of Mossad and say, today I want to kill somebody.

No, it should get the permit of the prime minister, and it should go through the motion until you get the permit, with a lot of thinking in it.

(somber music) After such an hole, after such an horrifying event, to kill in cold blood those innocent spokesmen, I think that it was the right response.

(men shouting in foreign language) (gunshots popping) (soft music) (drumbeats crackling) (soft music) - [Hagai] Prime Minister Golda Meir really was flirting with Chancellor Brandt.

She actually wanted him to be a mediator between Israel and Egypt.

Also, because Brandt very good relation with the Soviet Union, Israel used him as a force to influence the Soviet government to treat Jews in Soviet Union and to let them immigrate to Israel.

After reading General Zamir report, my government understands that there are certain differences between your and our side in judging the action taken by the German authorities during the Munich tragedy.

My government feel, if now a new discussion is coming up in public, the subject would become an item in the German election campaign, - And they knew that she wants Brandt to win the elections.

She, from the very start of this effort, made all effort that this tragedy will not deteriorate the relation between Israel and Germany, and especially between her and Brandt.

(dog barking) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (dog barking) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (soft music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) (tense music) (Magdi speaking in foreign language) - [Narrator] Having been forced to spend four years in Egypt, Magdi Gohary manages to return to Germany.

He begins legal proceedings against the German state, and is eventually granted German citizenship.

(soft music) (Salah speaking in foreign language) (bright piano music) (birds chirping) (Shaul speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (Shaul speaking in foreign language)