He vist la pel·lícula d'Spielberg i encara no entenc el que pretenia. I no ho entenc perquè, sospito, ni el mateix Spielberg ho sabia. Crec que s'ha limitat a fer l'aposta fàcil de jugar a tots els números. Ni tots bons, ni tots dolents. Una caricatura total del conflicte al Pròxim Orient i una recreació obscena de la realitat, perquè s'inventa no només una part dels fets i dels personatges sinó també de les motivacions. En resum, un "thriller", un "western" sobre un conflicte sempre de moda, per guanyar un Oscar i poca cosa més.La reacció d'Israel contra el terrorisme palestí després de Munic no respon a un simple i primitiu sentiment de venjança com vol fer creure Spielberg, sinó a la voluntat política de destruir les seves infraestructures a Europa per evitar nous atemptats en el futur. Especialment, després de comprovar que els europeus no només seguien sense percebre el perill sinó que estaven disposats a alliberar tots els terroristes a la primera oportunitat.
Es opinable, com apunta Chroniques de l'Extrême-Centre, si aquesta estratègia de prevenció del terrorisme era la més convenient o assenyada, però és indiscutible que va reforçar la seguretat: no hi va haver cap més segrestament d'un avió d'El Al des d'un aeroport estranger i els atemptats anti-israelians a Europa, en els trenta anys següents, no van superar els dits d'una mà.
Per contrastar la versió d'Spielberg us recomano llegir una entrevista excepcional -en el sentit de poc freqüent- de Zvi Zamir, cap del Mossad durant l'atemptat antiisraelià del Jocs Olímpics de Munic del 1972, al periòdic israelià Haaretz. No es que la seva versió sigui paraula de Déu, però és un bon contrapunt a la fantasia del progenitor d'E.T.
Did the film thrill you?
Zamir: "I see it as a cowboy movie. It did not thrill me. Spielberg is of course a name that arouses curiosity, but I understand that the film has not done well in Israel, and rightly so. The Israelis, who understand the subject, know that the film does not reflect what really happened."
In what sense does it not reflect the events?
"It is a disgrace that Spielberg compares Golda Meir to terrorist leaders in Lebanon. For quite a lengthy period Golda rejected our proposals - of the Mossad, Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet [security service] - for operations against terrorism in Europe. She hoped the Europeans would be vigilant and would take action themselves against Palestinian terrorism aimed at Israel."
What else bothers you in the film?
"The 'sages' behind the film do not explain the blow, the shock that Munich delivered to all our conceptions. Those things were pushed out of the film in order to make room for operational depictions based on the director's fertile imagination."
And it didn't happen as he depicts it?
"Of course not. He depicts the Mossad fighters as a gang of Englishmen and Frenchmen - of mercenary types who take on the mission in return for $200,000 or $300,000. And then there is the story of the squad leader, a certain 'Avner,' who never existed."
To show how sensitive Golda Meir was to human life and how she was not obsessed with vengeance, Zamir relates the following anecdote which, he says, has never before been made public: "In some of my conversations with Golda, she expressed her concern that our people might be involved in illegal actions on European soil. It was indeed unavoidable, but illegal. Therefore, I suggested that Golda meet with some of my people, so she could see who they are and draw her own impression. She once told me: 'We are actually hitting people who were never sentenced in a trial.' I felt that she might be having hesitations and doubts about the judgment of the people who were doing the work, who were taking part in the operations, and so I decided that Golda should meet them.
"When the opportunity arose I brought to a meeting with her one of the people who had just returned from an operation, which he had carried out almost independently, alone. He was responsible for a certain sensitive action. He was a member of a pioneer youth movement, who immigrated to Israel. A kibbutz member, a physician, Anglo-Saxon in origin. Golda knew me and maybe one or two others who worked in the Mossad, but she did not get to know the majority. So I wanted her to form her own impression of the people, to place her trust in us and to see the people to whom the mission was entrusted.
"He spoke Hebrew with an accent, just like her. Golda heard him out. She did not say much, but I saw in her eyes that he had made a powerful impression on her. Later Golda visited his kibbutz and ran into him by chance. She was so moved that she called me afterward to tell me. And he is only one example of our human quality. Not mercenaries and not Spielberg-type clowns."
