Khalid Jawad

Khalid Jawad (1954[1]–6 September 1972) was one of eight Black September terrorists that invaded the Israeli quarters at the Munich Olympic Village during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games taking hostage nine of the Israeli Olympic delegation after killing Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano in the initial takeover. It has been suggested that Jawad was the terrorist wearing the ski mask featured in images that became iconic of this atrocity.[2]

Early life

Khalid had grown up in the Chatila refugee camp in Lebanon with several other of his fellow fedayeen, even playing on the same football team as some of them and was described as 'soccer mad'.[3] Khalid had lived in West Germany for two years with his brother Farud but was sent home because "he couldn't fit in".[4] Jawad was recruited for the Munich operation thereafter.[5]

Preparation for the Attack at the Munich Olympics

Upon being chosen for the Munich operation Khalid undertook training. Khalid told his brother that he was "going to play football in Syria." On his return however, his family noticed marks on his back as if he'd been wearing a backpack. When asked about where he had been, Khalid persisted in telling them that he had been playing football, but instructed them, not to "tell anyone." A couple of weeks later and a month before the start of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Khalid and the other chosen fedayeen flew to Tripoli to undertake a months advanced training in Libya.[6]

Death at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base

Upon arriving in one of the two helicopters with his fellow fedayeen and the Israeli athletes at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, the fedayeen became embroiled in a firefight with five German police marksmen positioned around the airfield who fired upon the fedayeen. During the firefight, Khalid made a dash across the pitch black airfield away from the back of the helicopters and ran unwittingly straight towards a low signal garden where a German police marksman was positioned behind, lying prone on the ground. The marksman fired several shots from a distance of five metres, hitting Jawad in the face and shooting him a further three times as he was falling. Jawad was not killed instantly however, the marksman reported hearing the terrorist 'moaning and gasping for breath several times', while helicopter pilot Gunnar Ebel, who had sought cover next to the prone marksmen during the opening stage of the gun battle, reported hearing a 'gurgling' sound, from Jawad as he died.[7]

Aftermath

Khalid's family only found out about his death after a photograph in a local newspaper showed Khalid's corpse with a bullet through his face.[8]

His body and those of his four fedayeen compatriots were handed over to Libya and after a procession of 30,000 people from Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, were buried in the Sidi Munaidess Cemetery.[9]

gollark: Rust.
gollark: My font is now the IBM 3270 one, because font configuration on Linux is evil.
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See also

References
  1. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade. p. 173. ISBN 1-55970-547-7.
  2. Davis, David (1 March 2017). "The Story Behind The Masked Horror Of The Munich Olympics". Deadspin.
  3. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade. p. 42. ISBN 1559705477.
  4. Reeve, Simon. One day in September : the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God'. Faber. p. 307. ISBN 0571231810.
  5. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God". New York: Arcade. p. 51. ISBN 0571231810.
  6. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade. p. 43. ISBN 1559705477.
  7. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade. p. 143. ISBN 1-55970-547-7.
  8. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade. p. 173. ISBN 1-55970-547-7.
  9. Reeve, Simon (2000). One day in September : the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Arcade. p. 147. ISBN 1559705477.
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