Terrorism in the Olympics Essay

On January 18, 19434, a group of armed Jewish resistance fighters ambushed a group of German soldiers deporting a group of Jews. At the signal of their commander, the resistance fighters opened fire upon the Germans and fought them back. Many resistance members were armed with only small arms, homemade explosives or even just rocks, planks, or metals bars. The Germans were surprised and retreated. Although the resistance fighters had won this battle, they had lost many people in the

As well as put them in a position to move on to Isigny the next day, which would link them up to the Americans on Utah Beach in the West. The natural exits off the beach were a large target for the American and British troops because it would make it easy to get out of the area. This would have provided strategic importance if the exits weren't heavily guarded by German

Yet again, it becomes evident that no one can be trusted when the prisoners are being marched from the concentration camp due to the Nazis fear that the United States and allies soon would discover their operation. The Jewish prisoners arrange a plan with some of the German guards marching alongside them. The prisoners pay the guards with the agreement that when they try to run the German soldiers will fire over their heads and not kill them. When the time came to run, the prisoners break away from the pack and start towards the woods, however, the same soldiers that promised not to shoot them shot them in the back as they ran (Maus V II 82-83). The Germans that were supposed to be the friends of the Jews and help them escape took their gold and did not hesitate to shoot them in the back as they ran.

You can see this, in the news room. They were talking about the Jewish, were to blame and they need to be punished. Germans did not know the expectant that it was going to lead to. They thought this was a good idea, then they realised what it actually entailed, to it was late.

Once the arrangements were made the terrorist and athletes left for the airport. A local policeman tried to save the athletes but this led to the death of all the athletes, five terrorists, and the policeman. This monstrosity was not just another episode in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but went against everything the Olympic games stand for. International cooperation, sportsmanship, and respect for human life epitomizes the Olympic

The 1972 Summer Olympics occurred in Munich, Germany where an unthinkable event happened. It was September 5 and everthing was going smoothly, the Israeli athletes had just returned to their sleeping places. Around 4:30 a.m. eight Palestinian terrorists jumped a six foot fence and headed for the Israeli athletes apartment. These terrorists were part of a terrorist group called Black September. They then rounded up the athletes from apartments one and four. Several of the athletes fought back, two were killed, a couple escaped out the windows, and nine were taken hostage. Once word of this event reached the media, the terrorist dropped a slip of paper with their demands. They wanted 234 Arab prisoners released from Israeli prisons and two from German prisons. The terrorists wanted this demand met by 9 a.m.

This horrific battle for Israel’s life started in April. It started because Israel was suffering from a brain injury. An asthma related cardiac arrest caused this. His cardiac arrest happened at the UC Davis Medical Center. While doctors did restart his heart they couldn’t fix his oxygen levels. It was reported that he went about an hour without oxygen. Doctors then determined he was brain dead.

Germany waited for the day for two months. The day which is cloudy and hard to find the enemy. Also they were trying to make other new weapons, such as a missile that can destroy the city by itself. Before that battle started, Germany gathered soldiers who could speak English, and made a spy group, so that they could make a confusion against the Allied Forces. The Allied Forces thought they would win for sure, so they were very careless.

Michael Berenbaum also claims, “It could not have arisen earlier because not enough was known specifically about Auschwitz, and the camps were outside the range of Allied bombers” (Berenbaum). Countries in the Allied powers did not want to advance on their plan to bomb the concentration camps because it would be looked upon as wrong to bomb a camp filled with innocent prisoners, but Michael Berenbaum states, “To be willing to sacrifice innocent civilians, one would have had to perceive accurately conditions in the camp and to presume that interrupting the killing process would be worth the loss of life in Allied bombings” (Berenbaum).

They were able to take out the two German men and free their men from capture. After they freed their soldiers, they went on to find the rest of the

Around midnight on the 27th the SEALs came into contact with a sheep herder who lived in a nearby town. The four-man team had to make a decision to either kill the man or let him go. The team ultimately decided to let the man go, this decision is the one that led to the following events of Operation Red Wings. On the morning of June 28th, after deciding to let the sheep herder go, the SEALs came into contact with over 50 Taliban hostile forces. Clearly being outnumbered, the team had to fight to try and get out of the immediate area. The SEALs tried to establish radio communication with their supporting elements but due to the tall mountains around them, they were not able to do so. The only thing left to do was to hold their area and move to a different location to call for support. While fighting to try and establish communications, three of the four SEALs were killed in action. However, while fighting for their lives, one of the members were able to call for

The dictation of all of the members remains vague throughout the meeting, leaving much of the decisions up to interpretation. This is caused by the use of words such as “cleanse” and “evacuation” instead of directly stating the goals of killing anyone that has been identified as a Jew. One of the main deceptions used is “solving the Jewish question” and it has implications of being an easy question to solve. The goal was to have total “‘physical eradication” and “cleanse the entire continent.” This deception is then followed to the methods used to kill. The ‘T-4 program’ was established as a plan to sterilize any individual with a mental disability. This leads to the conversation of which method of sterilization should be used and is most effective. As the meeting proceeds, the joke is made; “who would want them?” and is responded to with a chorus of laughter. This meeting was accompanied by many lawyers or well-educated men leading to the statement that “it [a law degree] has made me distrustful of language,” giving reason to the limited specifics mentioned. Throughout the meeting the German leaders are not specific in their plan. This allows for them to justify what is being done by claiming it was not their intention for a certain act to happen.

The hostages were abducted easily by Black September. At approximately 4:30 a.m. local time on September 5, as the athletes slept, eight armed tracksuit-clad members of Black September breached the Olympic compound. They did this simply by by scaling the surrounding six foot fence with help from two unsuspecting American athletes who were also sneaking into the Olympic Village. Using stolen keys, the terrorists entered two apartments used by the Israeli team.(1) Israeli wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund woke up after hearing a sound near the door of the first apartment. While investigating the noise,Gutfreund watched as the door began to open and saw masked Black September members with guns on the other side. He yelled to the others as he

Before the assassination of Bashir Gemayel on September 14th Sharon and him had made a plan for Phalanigist militia to enter Palestinian refugee camps and get rid of the sought 2,000 PLO members that had been there. “Gemayel’s death set in motion a series of events that led to the massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps (Smith pg. 373).” The Israeli military transported Phalanigist militia to the Sabra and Shatila camps, which they entered on September 16th and occupied until the morning of the 19th. The Israeli military surrounded the camps to prevent any Palestinians from escaping, and would light flares at night to provide light inside the

At approximately four o'clock in the morning on September 5, 1972 (six days before the end of the games), Yossef Gutfreund, a 275 pound wrestling referee, reacted to the sound of Arab voices behind the door of the apartment where he and other Israeli athletes were staying. The terrorists had accessed the building unnoticed as they were dressed in athletic warm-ups and carried their weapons in gym bags. Gutfreund quickly alerted his roommates that something was wrong and proceeded to push his body against the door in an effort to prevent Arab entrance.