As it says on the cover, this is the book about the real events that inspired Spielberg's movie Munich. I chose to read it for another reason. As a fan of Daniel Silva's "Gabriel Allon" series of thrillers, I wanted to know more of the real background events that inspired the creation of Silva's character, a Mossad assassin. I was in junior high school when the Black September terrorists attacked the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics occurred. What I remembered was that the athletes and some of the terrorists died at the airport. What I did not know was how all attempts to save them were botched by the German officials and police in such a horrendous way or that one of the athletes might have survived if anyone had bothered to see if any of the athletes in a burning helicopter had survived being shot. He died of smoke inhalation, not gunshot wounds. The book documents "Operation Wrath of God", Israeli's revenge on the Palestinians for the massacre. This operation was charged with seeking out the Palestinian terrorists responsible for planning and carrying out the massacre and assassinating them. Included is the horribly botched case of mistaken identity in Lillehammer, Norway, where Israeli agents gunned down an innocent man in front of his pregnant wife and then were caught by authorities and tried. In some of the Silva novels references to "we don't another Lillehammer affair" pop up and now I know what they mean. In response to some of the assassinations, there were more terrorists attacks. However, the audacity some of the Mossad attacks led to the mythology that they were unstoppable even when they had done nothing. This book is interesting, horrifying, maddening, and depressing. Who are the good guys in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? I don't think there are any. I'm sure I'll be criticized for saying it, but, in my opinion, both sides are equally to blame.
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