{"id":2460,"date":"2005-12-12T23:52:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-12T23:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/controversy-surrounds-vengeance-munich\/"},"modified":"2005-12-12T23:52:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-12T23:52:00","slug":"controversy-surrounds-vengeance-munich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/controversy-surrounds-vengeance-munich.html","title":{"rendered":"Controversy surrounds Vengeance, Munich"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Today, I made it to page 170 of Vengeance<\/a><\/i>, a 352-page (if we don\u2019t count endnotes) book by George Jonas<\/a> about the top secret Israeli agents who tracked down and assassinated various Palestinian terrorists as retaliation for the deaths of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Tomorrow night, I am going to see Munich<\/a><\/i>, the new Steven Spielberg movie based on Jonas\u2019s book. Think I can finish the book by then?<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Jonas\u2019s book is a work of non-fiction, it is written almost like a novel, and it brings to mind some of the better books by, say, Frederick Forsyth<\/a>. The bulk of Jonas\u2019s information comes from an Israeli agent, named \u201cAvner\u201d in the book, who apparently became disenchanted with his mission; and since the sole source for much of the book\u2019s vivid detail is Avner\u2019s own memory, one cannot help but wonder just how accurate the information is.<\/p>\n

Naturally, Spielberg\u2019s film is generating controversy. Variety<\/a><\/i> says Random House is rushing into print a new book, Aaron Klein\u2019s Striking Back<\/a><\/i>, that disputes Vengeance<\/i>\u2018s version of events:<\/p>\n

Filmmakers \u201ccan say whatever they like, but it doesn\u2019t change the fact that both the PLO and the Mossad think \u2018Vengeance\u2019 is bullshit,\u201d said \u201cStriking Back\u201d editor Will Murphy. In what it is dubbing a \u201creverse tie-in,\u201d Random House will release its book next week, several days before the movie opens, and make the controversy a cornerstone of its campaign.<\/p>\n

Random House will attempt the tricky feat of capitalizing on general interest prompted by the Universal pic while disagreeing with the explanation of events that pic offers. Klein will appear on shows such as ABC\u2019s \u201cNightline\u201d to make his case.<\/p>\n

A main disagreement between the two books is whether the Mossad\u2019s assassinations of the Black September leaders that followed the 1972 Olympic attacks was an emotional reaction against the attackers, as \u201cVengeance\u201d and \u201cMunich\u201d both assert, or whether, as Klein argues, it was also a strategic response to break up a terrorist network.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Spielberg spokesman says Jonas\u2019s book was used because \u201cIt was really the only source material besides the news accounts,\u201d but this is an odd claim, considering there are several points in Jonas\u2019s endnotes where he disputes alternative versions of the events he describes that have already appeared in other books.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Reuters<\/a> reports that Mossad veterans have accused the film of various inaccuracies:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a tragedy that a person of the stature of Steven Spielberg, who has made such fantastic films, should have based this film on a book that is a falsehood,\u201d said David Kimche, a senior Mossad official in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, as now, it had nothing to do with vengeance,\u201d he told Reuters. \u201cIt had everything to do with the prevention of more terror attacks against innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Munich massacre was a turning point in our whole attitude toward terror and terrorism. We were at that time very much, I would say, at the epicenter of many, many threats of terror attacks. I think few people in the world realize what was going on at that time as far as terror was concerned.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

Michael Bar-Zohar, who wrote an authorized Israeli history of the post-Munich reprisals, noted that \u201cVengeance\u201d puts the number of Palestinians killed at 11 \u2014 although other accounts suggest the final toll reached as high as 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 11 Jews killed in Munich, 11 Palestinians that we killed \u2014 in other words \u2026 \u2018eye for an eye\u2019,\u201d Bar-Zohar said, reflecting Spielberg\u2019s portrayal of events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis balancing act is simply outrageous, because anyone who sees our fight with those who want to destroy us as \u2026 balanced does not know what he is talking about,\u201d he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One interesting facet of this whole debate is that Jonas is a conservative Canadian, while Spielberg is a liberal American. So \u2014 who knows? \u2014 the film could<\/i> represent an interesting tension between different political perspectives. We shall see.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I made it to page 170 of Vengeance, a 352-page (if we don\u2019t count endnotes) book by George Jonas about the top secret Israeli agents who tracked down and assassinated various Palestinian terrorists as retaliation for the deaths of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Tomorrow night, I am going to see Munich, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nControversy surrounds Vengeance, Munich<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today, I made it to page 170 of Vengeance, a 352-page (if we don't count endnotes) book by George Jonas about the top secret Israeli agents who tracked\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/controversy-surrounds-vengeance-munich.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controversy surrounds Vengeance, Munich\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, I made it to page 170 of Vengeance, a 352-page (if we don't count endnotes) book by George Jonas about the top secret Israeli agents who tracked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/controversy-surrounds-vengeance-munich.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-12-12T23:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/7991\/933\/400\/vengeance_lg.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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