Operation Wrath of God: Israel's Response to the Munich Massacre

Even since the modern nation of Israel was formed in 1948, peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors has been difficult to obtain. This has been especially true of Israelis and Palestinians who inhabited the Holy Land before they were expelled to make room for new Israeli settlers. There has been a great deal of violence between these two groups over the years, but one of the most prominent events occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. The Palestinian Liberation Organization's massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics proved the catalyst for one of the most well organized and methodical plots for revenge in modern history.

After the PLO killed those eleven athletes at the Munich Olympics on the 5th and 6th of September, the Israeli people demanded that the Israeli government take reprisal against the PLO. It was hoped that if sufficient action was taken, that the PLO would think twice between attacking Israelis in the future. To that end, Israel's Prime Minister, Golda Meir, authorized two operations to punish those responsible. The first, called Operation Spring of Youth, was led by Israel's Special Forces and was carried out on April 9th and 10th, against several targets in Beirut and Lebanon. The raids resulted in the deaths of at least three PLO leaders in their homes as well as the deaths of anywhere between a dozen and a hundred PLO fighters.