Question

analyze the Black September attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics, and examine the crucial lessons that law enforcement and counterterrorist organizations learned in the aftermath. From the perspective of the terrorists, give your opinion on whether or not you believe the Munich terrorist attack was successful. Use facts from your research to support your opinion.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) In the year 1972, the summer Olympics that were held in Munich were under attack by a Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” killed eleven Israeli team members after taking them hostage and a German officer.

The purpose of this attack became evident during the attack itself as, the Palestinian terror group demanded the release of 234 prisoners of their nationality, from the Israeli and German-held organisations. Apparently, the Palestinian terror group was assisted by a German Neo-Nazi group that helped them with the logistics of the attack.

Before the Israeli team could arrive at the Olympics, the Israeli authorities were worried about the security breaches because they knew of teams that were sneaking past the guards in order to enter into the rooms of other teams. Furthermore, the Israeli team ware put in rooms of an isolated area that could have been easily attacked. When the Israeli authorities expressed their concerns, they were pacified by the committee saying that additional security measures would be taken. However, the Israeli authorities believed that no extra measures were even taken.

If this entire situation is analysed meticulously, it can be assumed that the planning received some assistance from people who know about the details of the scene. These plans were partially evident in the arrangements made for the players of this particular country that was to be attacked.

Perhaps the lesson to learn from this situation is not about how guns and hostages should be handled in the future but, rather about how small details of such situations should not be ignored. Furthermore, whenever such large scale events are organised, it would be prudent for the officials and counter-terrorist groups to actually think like a terrorist. Political motives, religious outlooks, military issues and other possible problems should be adequately considered.

If the Israeli team were to be placed with every other team in a secure environment with concerns of the Israeli authorities addressed, the attack would have probably not even taken place. It is safe to say that after this attack, the biggest lesson to learn is that political, religious, military and diplomatic perspectives could be considered by the officials before the event in order to best be prudent about possible scenarios.

In other words, if in today’s times, two teams that are known enemies or teams that are from countries with political turmoil are a part of such events, it should be a mandate to actually provide the security and logistics necessary for harsh possibilities.