At the 1972 Munich Olympics , two members of the Israeli team were killed , and nine members taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists . A botched German rescue attempt led to the death of the rest along with five of the eight hijackers . The three surviving Palestinians were released by the West German authorities eight weeks later without charge , in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615 . The Israeli government responded with a bombing , an assassination campaign against the organizers of the massacre and a raid on the PLO headquarters in Lebanon ( led by future Prime Minister , Ehud Barak )
Lufthansa Flight 615
Lufthansa Flight 615
History of Israel