Luttif Afif (1937-6 September 1972) was a member of Black September, a terrorist Palestinian fedayeen group that carried out the 1972 Munich Massacre. Acting as the chief negotiator for the Palestinians, Luttif Afif was killed by the West German police when they tried to free the hostages.
Biography[]
Luttif Afif was born in Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine to a wealthy Christian Palestinian businessman and a Jewish mother. He joined the Black September Organization, a Palestinian terrorist group that sought to fight for Palestinian self-determination through terrorist attacks. Luttif Afif's two brothers were imprisoned for terrorism, with one of them being a member of Black September. He was clearly fanatical in his convictions, as Munich police observed, although he was said to be always polite and correct.
In 1972, Luttif Afif, Yusuf Nazzal, Afif Ahmed Hamid, Khalid Jamal, Ahmed Chic Thaa, Jamal al-Gashey, and Abu Daoud were sent to Munich by the terrorist leader Salah Khalaf under pseudonyms; Luttif Afif used the name "Issa", meaning "Jesus". The operation was called "Iqrit and Biram" after two Christian Palestinian towns whose inhabitants were expelled by Haganah in 1948 during the Israeli War of Independence. Luttif Afif and the others kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes (5 sportsmen and 6 coaches) participating in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, representing Israel.
Hostage-taking[]
Luttif Afif exiting a helicopter in Munich
The team of kidnappers attacked the athletes as they slept, and kidnapped most of them. They shot dead wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano during the hostage-taking after the athletes returned from watching the play Fiddler on the Roof. They had the other 9 held for ransom, demanding the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners and the Baader-Meinhof Gang leaders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. Afif spent much of his time during the hostage crisis talking with the German negotiators or policewoman Anneliese Graes. Later, the Bavarian border police and German police arranged a rescue attempt. They had snipers posted on the roofs of buildings surrounding the hostage-takers, who held the hostages on the tarmac at Fuerstenfeldbruck, and planned to lure them into a trap.
Death[]
Luttif Afif being gunned down on the runway
The German troops that were hidden in an airplane on the tarmac decided to quit the mission and left, abandoning the German snipers that were supposed to give them covering fire. When Luttif Afif and Yusuf Nazzal entered the plane, they found it empty, and knew that there was a trap. The German snipers opened fire, hitting Nazzal in the leg, and Ahmed Chic Thaa and Afif Ahmed Hamid were killed. Luttif Afif and the remaining gunmen scrambled to safety and shot a German policeman in the control tower. While the Germans tried to send troops to stop the hostage-takers, Luttif Afif killed three Israeli athletes with an AK-47 inside of a helicopter before killing the other wounded one by blowing up the helicopter's cockpit with a grenade. Afif then charged across the tarmac and fired at the police, but he was gunned down and killed. After the incident, his body was transported to Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, where it was buried with military honors.