1972 September:After the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Mu-
nich Olympic Games by Palestinian terrorists of the Black September Or-
ganization, Aharon Yariv, newly appointed adviser to the prime minister
on counterterrorism, and Mossad director Zamir persuade the Israeli cabi-
net to form a top secret counterterrorist committee within the Israeli cabi-
net. Prime Minister Golda Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan chair
this special panel, known simply as “Committee-X.” It assumes compe-
tence to compile a list of targets for assassination. Committee-X resolves
to kill any Black September terrorist involved directly or indirectly in plan-
ning, assisting, or executing the attack on the Israeli athletes. October:
Eliyahu (Eli) Zeira is appointed director of Military Intelligence (DMI),
serving in this position until April 1974. 16 October: Wael Zwaiter, or-
ganizer of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terror activity in
Europe, is killed by a Mossad team in Italy. December: A Jewish-Arab
spy ring is exposed in the so-called Udi Adiv affair.1973 24 January: Hussein Abad Al-Chir is killed in Cyprus by Mossad
agents. April: Marwan Ashraf, the Mossad’s top source, provides early
warning that at the end of April, later revised to May, Egypt will launch a
war; in fact, April and May 1973 pass uneventfully, except for a small-
scale mobilization of Israeli reserves. 9 April: The Spring of Youth Oper-
ation is carried out in Beirut by Sayeret Matkal with the assistance of the
Mossad. Abu Yussef (also known as Mahmoud Yussuf Najjer), Kamal Ad-
wan, and Kamal Nasser are killed. All three had played a part in the Mu-
nich massacre. 12 April: Ziad Muchassi, the Palestine Liberation Organi-
zation’s (PLO) liaison with the Soviet KGB, is killed by an explosive
device in his bedroom at the Aristide Hotel in Athens by a Mossad team.
28 June: Mohammed Boudia, liaison between the PLO headquarters and
its offices in Europe, is killed by the Mossad. 21 July: Mossad agents in
Lillehammer, Norway, kill a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, after
misidentifying him as Ali Hassan Salameh, leader of the Black September
Organization which carried out the 1972 Munich massacre. August: The
Syrian army carries out a massive deployment of troops and weaponry
along the Golan front, accompanied by a dense (surface-to-air) missile net-
work, which covers the airspace over the Golan Heights as well as the Syr-
ian divisions. Military Intelligence (MI) analysts dismiss this deployment
as defensive against Israeli air strikes. Nothing further occurs at that time.
13 September: Israel Air Force (IAF) jets are attacked during a recon-
naissance mission over Syrian territory. IAF planes shoot down 12 Syrianxxx •CHRONOLOGY06-102 (01) FM.qxd 3/24/06 7:22 AM Page xxx