Revenge for Munich massacre

Press, 21 July 1984, Page 20

Revenge for Munich massacre

Vengeance. By George Jones. Collins, 1984. 444 pp. $24.95.

(Reviewed by

Ken Strongman)

“Vengeance” is subtitled, “The True Story of a Counter-Terrorist Mission,” and purports to describe Golda Meir’s reaction to the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. This reaction involved the recruitment of a team of five experts, whose job was, in the words of spy fiction, “to terminate with utmost prejudice” the lives of the main Palestinian terrorists. Apart from being a heavy book with inexplicably large print, it is quite gripping. Avner, the young leader of the team, is an interesting character, whether he is actual or fictitious, although the other four never become properly distinctive. The way Avner is chosen, his background and training and the way the team carries out its executions all have a sort of plain,

simple fascination about them. The style has enough documentary detachment to move from Avner’s relationship with his wife and child to the blowing up of a Palestinian with neither change of pace nor mood. It is such an emotionless tale that it is easy to forget that it deals with 18 killings, or 31 if the athletes are included. Since Frederick Forsyth’s “Day of the Jackal” the line between fact and fiction in modern writing has shrunk considerably. Fiction can be made to appear as a documentary, and bare facts, if such exist, can be dramatised into moving or passionate pieces — the stuff of novels. And, of course, no single work can ever be said to be entirely factual or entirely fictitious. They are all mixed and, in reality, the debate concerns only the proportions. In the case of “Vengeance” we will probably never know.

“Vengeance” is an entirely plausible book. The Palestinians were killed and someone must have killed them. Dispassionately assembling a crack hit squad to avenge their athletes sounds just the sort of thing the Israelis would do and do efficiently. The matter-of-fact way in which the book is written endorses this. But, if one were building ■ the pretence that the events described did happen and that Avner and his crew existed, then this is exactly the way one would do it to make it plausible.

Already there have been articles in the newspapers about whether this is a novel of fiction or an account of fact. From one viewpoint, this is a perfectly reasonable question to ask. From another, it is an, eminently suitable way of achieving free publicity for a work, be it flesh or fowl. It is all very reminiscent of a similar fuss a few years ago over Carlos Castenada’s “A Separate Reality,” which purported to document the intriguing, drug-filled spiritual life of Mexican Indians. I still do not know whether or not Castenada’s books were genuine, but am sure that the speculation sold extra copies.

Perhaps it does not matter. “Vengeance” is an interesting book and the events could have happened as they are described. The only remaining problem is where to shelve it; fiction, non-fiction, or a new sort of unisex section.