The attack on the Israeli Olympic squad at Munich was the seventh assault by Arab terrorists against Israelis and other Jews to take place in West Germany since 1969. In terms of lives lost it was the worst. Prior to the events of the past 48 hours, the heaviest loss of life occurred when arsonists burned a Jewish home for the aged in Munich on Feb. 13, 1970, killing seven of the residents.
The record of violence began on Sept. 8, 1969, when grenades were thrown at the Israel Embassy in Bonn; on Nov. 9 that year, a time bomb was discovered at the Jewish Community Center in West Berlin; on Dec. 12, a bomb was discovered in the El Al office at Munich airport.
On Feb. 10, 1970, an Israeli citizen was killed and eight Israelis were wounded in a terrorist attack on an El Al airliner at Munich airport. On Feb. 22, 1970, Arab hijackers seized a Lufthansa plane and landed it at Aden. On Sept. 24, a booby-trap letter was sent to the Israeli pavilion at the Hanover Fair.
There have been 18 other terrorist attacks on Israelis and Israeli property in other parts of the world since 1968, six of which resulted in fatalities. On Dec. 26, 1968, an Israeli civilian was killed and an airline hostess was wounded in an attack on an El Al plane at Athens airport. On Feb. 18, 1969, terrorists killed an Israeli pilot and wounded a civilian in an attack on an El Al plane at Zurich airport.
On Feb. 21, 1970, 47 passengers, including Israelis, Germans, Swiss and other nationalities died in the crash of a Swiss air plane shortly after take off from Kloten Airport at Zurich. It was determined later that the plane had been sabotaged by terrorists. On May 4, 1970, the wife of the secretary of the Israeli Embassy in Paraguay was shot and killed by Arab terrorists who wounded an Embassy employe.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
