Skip to main content

Fatah: Murder of 11 Israeli athletes at Olympics was “quality operation”

Nan Jacques Zilberdik  |

  • Fatah about terror commander: “A beacon guiding… the path to ‎liberation”‎

In Palestinian Authority terminology a “quality operation” is a euphemism for a ‎successful terror attack. Palestinians use the term to describe murderous attacks ‎against Israeli civilians. One attack that has earned this praise repeatedly was the ‎murder of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. ‎

Eight Palestinian terrorists from the terror organization Black September, a secret ‎branch of Fatah, broke into the athletes' village at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, ‎‎1972. The terrorists took Israeli athletes and coaches hostage in their rooms, ‎murdering two right away, ultimately murdering 11 when the German police tried but ‎failed to rescue the hostages and subdue the terrorists at an airport near Munich.‎

Still today, Abbas’ Fatah views these murders as an achievement and “a quality ‎operation” as expressed in this video posted by Fatah on the anniversary of the ‎death of the Black September commander Ali Hassan Salameh who was one of ‎the planners of the Munich massacre as well as many other attacks: ‎

The stills at the beginning of the video show German police disguised in sports ‎clothes climbing the roof of the building where the Palestinian terrorists held the ‎Israeli athletes hostage.‎

Fatah Commission of Information and Culture’s narrator: “Ali ‎Hassan Salameh was characterized by his long arm, which reached ‎across all of Europe, and by high intelligence that enabled him to hunt ‎Mossad agents. After he was appointed to command the special ‎operations (i.e., terror attacks) against the Israeli intelligence service in ‎the world, his name was connected to many quality operations, such as ‎sending explosive packages to many Mossad agents in Europe… ‎Salameh left a life story that turned him into a symbol of extraordinary ‎security activity. [This] was continued and is still being continued by his ‎students and those who love him, who view him as a beacon guiding ‎them on the path to liberation and return.”‎

Posted text: “The man who made [former Israeli Prime Minister] Golda ‎Meir lose her head, to the point that she said: ‘Kill that monster!’ ‎
Abu Ali [Hassan] Salameh ‎
The Red Prince”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture,  Jan. 20, 2021]‎

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that every year, on the anniversary of ‎Salameh’s death and on the anniversary of the attack itself, the PA and Fatah ‎repeat this ritual of praising the terrorists and glorifying the attack. ‎

This year was no exception. In addition to the video above, Fatah gloated that ‎terrorist Salameh “kept the Israelis up at night with a series of operations”:‎

Posted text: “Tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 22, [2021,] is the 42nd anniversary ‎of the death as a Martyr of the Red Prince, Ali Hassan Salameh… who ‎kept the Israeli occupation up at night with a series of operations, ‎until the Israeli Mossad (Israeli Secret Intelligence Service) ‎assassinated him in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on Jan. 22, 1979. ‎‎‘Sad Monday’ in the history of the Palestinian revolution – this is how ‎the day of his death as a Martyr was called. This is a day full of grief and ‎lethal bouts of pain in the lives of everyone who loved Martyr ‎commander Abu Hassan Salameh.‎
‎#The_Red_Prince‎
‎#Ali_Hassan_Salameh‎
The [Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture”‎

Text on image: “The 42nd anniversary
The Red Prince
Ali Hassan Salameh”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, ‎Jan. 21, 2021]‎

Other posts by Fatah praised terrorist Salameh as “an exceptional man” and “a ‎Palestinian who sharpened the sword”:‎

Text on image: “The Commission of Information and Culture in the ‎Fatah Movement’s Southern Branches
The 42nd anniversary
The Red Prince, commander
Ali Hassan Salameh ‎
The Israeli Mossad assassinated him in Beirut on Jan. 22, 1979”‎

Posted text: “Today, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, we mark the 42nd ‎anniversary of the death as a Martyr of commander Ali Hassan ‎Salameh, as the Palestinian memory refuses to forget this exceptional ‎man, a man who immortalized his name in the history of the ‎Palestinian revolution and his sophisticated intelligence war against ‎the Mossad. Ali Hassan Salameh, ‘the Red Prince,’ founder of the ‎security forces protecting the PLO leadership [PA Presidential Security] ‎‎‘Force 17,’ kept the Israeli occupation up at night with a series of ‎operations, until the Israeli Mossad assassinated him in Beirut, the ‎capital of Lebanon, on Jan. 22, 1979. ‘Sad Monday’ in the history of the ‎Palestinian revolution – this is how the day of his death as a Martyr was ‎called. This is a day full of grief and lethal bouts of pain in the lives of ‎everyone who loved Martyr commander Abu Hassan Salameh.‎
‎#The_Red_Prince‎
‎#Ali_Hassan_Salameh‎
The [Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, ‎Jan. 22, 2021]‎

Posted text: “A Palestinian who sharpened the sword, returned the ‎river to the sea, and united the land
He embraced the glory of desolateness and was renewed
‎42 years since the death as a Martyr of commander Ali Hassan ‎Salameh – the Red Prince – ‘Abu Hassan’”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Jan. 21, 2021]‎

Posted text: “Jan. 22, 1979‎
The anniversary of the death of commander Ali Hassan Salameh ‘Abu ‎Hassan’ ‎
The Red Prince”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, ‎Jan. 22, 2021]‎

The official PA daily also published a eulogy on the occasion of the anniversary of ‎Salameh’s death:‎

Headline: “42 years since the death as a Martyr of ‘the Red Prince’”‎
‎“Today, Friday, Jan. 22, [2021,] is the 42nd anniversary of the death as a ‎Martyr of commander Ali Hassan Salameh ‘the Red Prince’, the founder ‎of the forces protecting the PLO leadership [PA Presidential Security] ‎‎‘Force 17.’‎
On Monday, Jan. 22, 1979, the Israeli Mossad assassinated the Red ‎Prince by blowing up his car in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Israel’s ‎leaders thought the assassination of Martyr Salameh would get an ‎enemy out of their way who had already thwarted their plans in the past ‎and taken revenge on their collaborators. This was because the skilled ‎commander established the force protecting Martyr leader [former PLO ‎Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat, which played an important ‎role in dealing with the Mossad’s operations abroad and within ‎Lebanon.”‎

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 22, 2021]‎

It is not only the PA and Fatah institutions which honor the Munich killers. Also in Palestinian ‎society at large, the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacre are seen as ‎heroes. PMW reported earlier this year that in admiration of another planner of the ‎attack, Salah Khalaf – Abu Iyad, Palestinian youth gifted a Palestinian university ‎with a new gate named after the terrorist.‎

Ali Hassan Salameh

Munich Olympics massacre

Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf)

RelatedView all ❯