WHEN VENGEANCE was published in 1984, it was predictably denounced. Back then, the idea that Israel would train and dispatch a hit squad in a program of government-sponsored assassinations was more than a shock, it was heresy. The revelation that the program was launched at a Sabbath meeting attended by the chief of the Mossad, Zvi Zamir, with the hero-general (and future prime minister) Ariel Sharon, and tile sitting prime minister, Golda Meir (Grandma!)... was regarded as nothing short of a libel.

This is the account of that secret mission, as related by the leader of the group--the first Mossad agent to come out of "deep cover" and tell the story of a heroic endeavor that was shrouded in silence and speculation for years. He reveals the long and dangerous operation whose success was bought at a terrible cost to the idealistic volunteer agents themselves.

"Avner" was the leader of that team, handpicked by Golda Meir to avenge the monstrous crime of Munich. He and his young companions, cut off from any direct contact with Israel, set out systematically to find and kill the central figures of the PLO's Munich operation, tracking them down wherever they lived.

The mechanics, the horror, the day-by-day suspense of what they did sur-pass by far anything John le Carre or Robert Ludlum could imagine, as they themselves were tracked in turn (and some killed) by PLO assassins, changing identities constantly, moving from country to country, devoting their young lives to the brutal task of vengeance.

Vengeance is a profoundly human document, a real-life espionage classic that plunges the reader into the shadow world of terrorism and political mur-der. But it goes far beyond that, to explore firsthand the feelings of disgust and doubt that gradually came to torment each member of the Israeli team, and that in the end inexorably changed their view of the mission--and themselves.

Vengeance opens a window onto a secret world, a book that at the same time inspires and horrifies. For its subject is an act of revenge that goes to the very heart of the ancient biblical questions of good and evil.

   Introduction XIII

   Foreword to the 20o5 Edition XVII

   Preface XXI

   Prologue 1

Part I The Making of the Agent

 1 Avner 11

 2 Andreas 30

PartII Changing Jewish History

 3 GoldaMeir 65

 4 Ephraim 75

PartIII The Mission

 5 WaelZwaiter 99

 6 LeGroup 111

 7 MahmoudHamshari 144

 8 Abadal-Chir 158

 9 Basil al-Kubaisi 167

 lo Beirut and Athens 182

 11 MohammedBoudia 198

 12 TheYomKippurWar 215

 13 AliHassan Salameh 229

 14 London 242

 15 Hoorn 253

 16 Tarifa 267

 17 Frankfurt 283

Part IV Coming in from the Cold

 18 America 297

    Epilogue 329

    Notes on a Controversy 341

    Acknowledgements 357

    Appendix 359

    Chronology 361

    Notes 363

    Bibliography 387