''Vengeance'' is a 1984 book by George Jonas describing part of

Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre Operation Bayonet () was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals they accused of being involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. The targets were members of the Palestinians, Palestinian armed militant group Black September ...

. It was re-released as ''Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team'' or ''Vengeance: Sword of Gideon'' in some later editions and countries. The main source of the book is also the main character, Yuval Aviv, known in the book as Avner. A

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

officer, he is recruited to lead a small team into

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to assassinate a number of suspected

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

and

Black September Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fight ...

militants. Each of the book's chapters deals with a separate stage of the mission, including the background to each assassination. It has inspired both a 1986 made for television movie called ''

Sword of Gideon ''Sword of Gideon'' is a 1986 Canadian television film about Mossad agents hunting down terrorists associated with the 1972 Munich massacre. It was first shown on the CTV Television Network in Canada as a four-hour miniseries and later on HBO in ...

'' and the 2005

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

film ''

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

''.

References

1984 non-fiction books Books about counterterrorism Books about terrorism Books about the Mossad Non-fiction books adapted into films Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre {{MEast-hist-book-stub