Munich - Open Letter to the Editor,

I'm just passing it on:

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; December 21, 2005



Open Letter to the Editor,



Steven Spielberg’s film, MUNICH, is based on fraudulent information. Tragically, because he is such a good filmmaker, audiences will be deceived into taking his account, “inspired by real events,” to be the truth.



Israel’s newspaper, Haaretz, reports that “the movie is based on a book in which there is no truth.” Research confirms this. Canadian journalist George Jonas’ 1984 book : Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, is used by Spielberg as his reference. Mr. Jonas relied largely on the information given him by Yuval Aviv, a man who posed as a Mossad agent, “even though he had never worked in the Mossad and certainly had not participated in operations to kill those involved in the athletes’ murder.” His only security experience was when he worked as a security guard for El Al in New York. Shaister.com tells us that “Zvi Zamir, who was head of Mossad during that period, has also stated on several occasions that he has never known Aviv and there there is no connection between what is related in Jonas’ book and what really happened.” Zamir also states that he was never contacted by Spielberg for the true facts in the case, and he is surprised that the director would “rely on this particular book” for his source material.



Dec. 21 marks the anniversary of the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988, which is related to the same Yuval Aviv and his fraudulent actions. The bombing, which claimed the lives of 243 passengers and 16 crew members. There were 37 students on board flying home from an overseas study program in London. One of those students was the only child of Susan and Dan Cohen, who have never ended their efforts to avenge their daughter’s death. The Cohens are very disturbed about the fact that Yuval Aviv, the same Mossad imposter who tried to take advantage of them, is the man whose fraudulent information was the source for Steven Spielberg’s new film, “Munich”.



According to the Cohens, Aviv’s “unscrupulous practice of telling tailor-made stories to the highest bidder” is illustrated by the fact that Aviv wrote a report exonerating Pan Am in the 103 matter which gained him much media attention. Aviv had previously contacted them “and offered information that would prove that Pan Am had been negligent in preventing the disaster,” just the opposite of what he was saying on behalf of Pan Am.



Spielberg does a disservice in basing his film on fallacious material, and presenting the Munich massacre and Israel’s response as a “perpetual motion machine” and a “quagmire of blood for blood”. He describes the massacre as a “response to a response”. One must ask Spielberg what the Arabs were “responding” to when they carried out their murderous deed.



By falsely creating an atmosphere of moral equivalency in his film, Spielberg adds to the pain and suffering of the Pan Am 103 families and all others who have been affected by the murderous actions of terrorists. By choosing to deceive his movie going public about the true nature of the “clash of civilizations” and Islam’s war against western civilization, he contributes to the threat to Israel, America, and the western world.



Helen Freedman

Executive Director

Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI