Striking Back

The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response

By: Aaron J. Klein

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

1972. The Munich Olympics. Palestinian members of the Black September group murder 11 Israeli athletes. Nine hundred million people watch the crisis unfold on television, witnessing a tragedy that inaugurates the modern age of terror.

Back in Israel, Prime Minister Golda Meir vows to track down those responsible and, in Menachem Begin's words, "run these criminals and murderers off the face of the earth". A secret Mossad unit is mobilized, a list of targets drawn up. Thus begins the Israeli response, a mission that unfolds not over months but over decades. The Mossad has never spoken about this operation. No one has known the real story. Until now.

In this riveting account, Aaron Klein peels back the layers of myth and misinformation about the "shadow war" against Black September and other terrorist groups.

©2005 Aaron J. Klein (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Non-Fiction, Unabridged, 2007

Excellent Story!

A suburb treatment of the subject matter. Excellent story telling with surprisingly confidential information revealed.

When oh when…

..will performers pronounce things correctly? I like this performer - have other audiobooks he’s read - but how is it he can pronounce Israeli names/words so well but can’t say “Renault”. It’s not ren-alt it’s ren-oh. His books are full of this stuff and it wrecks my experience. Like nails on a chalkboard. Hey Audible - hire “proof listeners” to catch this stuff. It’s happening more and more. Not sayin’…just sayin’.

One of the Best! Absolutely Fantastic!

They don't get much better than this book! WOW! What a book!

I was a little too young to remember the Munich Massacre, so after this book, I also rented a documentary of the event.

There is so much good stuff in here, it's hard to know where to start.

The details of the hostage taking and the unbelievable response of the German Special forces were not only fascinating, but very troubling as well.

The author maintains his neutrality well. He portrayal of the German Special Forces is balanced with the story of the operatives who killed the wrong person (and went to jail for it). Hard to believe that some of this stuff really happened.

The one story that sticks with me is the one that really got the Israelis in trouble in France, when they took out a terrorist (while being very careful not to kill his wife and child) in a rather unorthodox way - something I didn't realize was possible at that time.

Another highlight is the "Chocolate" story - how the Israelis got to one of the terrorists living in Iraq.

VERY GOOD BOOK! I've probably listed to over 100 audiobooks, and this is one of my favorites! Highly recommend!

Somewhat engaging review

For me, the most interesting thing about the book was the first quarter of it, which details the actual events leading up to and including the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Palestinian terror organization Black September. The rest of the book is dedicated to describing various assassination plots by the Mossad (successful and unsuccessful) intended as both revenge and deterrent. (The difference between the actual assassinations and those depicted in Stephen Spielberg's film Munich is astounding.)
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Munich massacre is the severe incompetence of the German authorities during the hostage crisis and leading up to the massacre, and even in the years after the massacre. They refused to admit any wrongdoing whatsoever. The incompetence is described using numerous examples.
Stefan Rudnicki's gravelly, overly serious narration is certainly adequate enough, although sometimes it sounds as though he's got cotton balls in his mouth.
If you particularly enjoy police procedurals, this book has enough detail to keep you interested for a while.

Great Book!

Lots of detail about events leading up to the massacre, and Israel's response. Easy enough to listen to, even without a vast knowledge of Middle East history or politics.

An Important Read

Though it's often used as an excuse, it is true that real-time decisions are much tougher than they seem in retrospect. There was no real incompetence on the part of the Mossad, but hard decisions had to be made, and though they made mistakes, considering the depth and scope of the operations, it is amazing what all they accomplished.
The author manages to be very even in his treatment of the subject; not cheerleading, and not condemning. All in all it is a very important read for anyone genuinely interested in Middle Eastern history of the 20th century.

Informative, not riveting

Scholarly, almost clinical examination of the Munich Olympics massacre and aftermath. Scathing indictment of the West German response and how much of Europe (indirectly) supports and facilitates terrorists by providing haven.

Very informative. But, lacked detail on specific operations.

Reading was somewhat monotone.

Great!!!

The Munich Olympics was a heartbreaker! This book tells the whole story, from first concerns about security weaknesses in Olympic Village housing through the attacks, and then follow-up by the Mossad. I rented a documentary about this (I think it was called "One Day in September") after listening to this account. It was a great addition to the book, with lots of actual footage of people and events described so well here. The narration is excellent, as well. Highly recommended!!!

Good story - historically informative

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I liked this book and I learned a lot about the Munich massacre from this book (I was alive but very young when the actual event occurred). I found the first part of the book to be more captivating than the last two-thirds. The latter part of the book was not bad by any means, just not as engrossing as the first part of the book which dealt with the actual hostage-taking of the Olympic athletes and their subsequent deaths. I will reiterate and validate what other reviewers have said: the book is slightly dry and the narration, while good, can be a bit monotone. I also had some difficulty keeping track of all of the many secondary characters due to their similar-sounding names. Granted, I am from the U.S. so Palestinian names can be confusing to me.That being said, this is a very informative book and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys history and doesn't need said history to be made more palatable by being packaged in novel form.

Starts well, then gets boring

Aaron J. Klein: Striking Back

This book purports to expose the Israeli response to the massacre of their Olympic athletes while at the games in Munich in 1972. It doesn’t do a good job of that.

The book DOES do an excellent job of explaining in detail what happened during the attack on the athletes and if that’s what you’re after this book is for you. The author discusses in detail all the incompetence and cowardice shown by the Germans in handling the entire affair, from security for the athletes to failing to execute a good plan that probably would have ended the situation relatively safely. I found the section covering Munich itself to be fascinating. This part rates five stars, but, unfortunately, is only about a quarter of the book.

After covering the attack on the athletes the book deteriorates into a boring case-by-case accounting of assassinations carried out by Israel around the world. There is very little that explains any relationship between each target and the Munich massacre, and in fact most of the assassinations discussed were not directly related to Munich.

The book does expose a lot of information that has recently been declassified by Israel, in particular the killing of one terrorist that had been debated for years as to whether he died from natural causes (a disease) or was killed.

The problem I had with this book was the jumping from one target to another without any attempt to tie all of them together except for the fact that the Mossad thought that all of them were either terrorists or were aiding terrorists. There are so many unrelated assassinations covered in this book that it actually gets boring to hear how agents murdered yet another terrorist.

The narrator suited me. He read this book as one would read a news article, which is basically what these stories are. He has a deep, authoritative voice that reminds me of Edward R. Murrow.

I won’t be listening to this a second time, although I did finish it.

If you are looking for a suspense-filled story of Israeli intelligence and covert operations I suggest that you get “Hunting Eichman” instead. It’s great.