The Mossad agent who eliminated the main terrorist responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre spoke out for the first time last month on Israeli media.

During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, the Palestinian terrorist group Black September kidnapped, tortured and killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team.

German police officers killed five of the Black September terrorists in a failed attempt to rescue the hostages. The three surviving terrorists were arrested and held in Munich for trail but Germany released them after terrorists hijacked a Lufthansa airplane and threatened to blow it up if the terrorist weren’t released.

Golda Meir, prime minister at the time, and the Israeli Defense Committee subsequently authorized the Mossad to track down and eliminate the terrorists responsible for the attack. In 1979, Mossad Agent D., also known as the “Legend” eliminated the central planner of the Munich attack, chief of operations for Black September Ali Hassan Salameh.

Until last month, when Agent D. spoke out for the first time on Channel 13’s “Reshimat Chisul” (Hit List), the details of the attack were unknown to the public. Today we know that Agent D., contrary to what he was instructed by his superiors, became a close friend of Salameh before eliminating him.

D. lived in Beirut and Damascus for six years under a false identity to prepare for the elimination.

Agent D.: “To the best of my knowledge, I’m the first [agent] in the Mizrachi department who was sent to live there permanently, first in Beirut and afterward in Damascus

Interviewer: Since Eli Cohen.

Agent D.: “It’s true that living there long-term – when you’re alone and isolated – can be burdensome emotionally and psychologically. There are risks because a person gets worn down and he can suddenly slip and start speaking Hebrew and out himself.”

Interviewer: You sit and spend time with a person who – it seems from what you said – that you also respected him.

Agent D.: “Yes, very much.”

Interviewer: And you’re supposed to kill him

Agent D.: “Yes.”

Interviewer: How does that work?

Agent D.: “It could be he’s smart, strong, intelligent – we had a lot in common. But he killed 11 athletes in Munich in front of the whole world, he slaughtered them in Germany. Therefore he deserved to die – I didn’t have the slightest doubt about it. He could have been the most charming person in the world but so what?”

Interviewer: And it didn’t constantly plague your mind that you were going to kill him?

Agent D.: “It didn’t plague my mind. I knew that this was my vision and that’s what I was here for and the friendship was something pleasant. I’m his friend, he did what he did in Munich but it’s still my mission.”

“‘À la guerre comme à la guerre,’ as the French say… in war as in war. I called him my friend and also my arch enemy. It wasn’t easy. You know deep down that he has to die.”

It should be noted that the elimination killed four innocent bystanders and injured at least 16 people.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)