Newly declassified documents have exposed a clandestine alliance between western intelligence agencies and Israel during the early 1970s. This coalition provided critical information that enabled the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, to track and assassinate Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks across western Europe.

This covert support operated without parliamentary or political oversight, raising serious ethical and legal questions. The revelation, while potentially not illegal, could have triggered a significant public outcry had it been known at the time.

Operation “Wrath of God”: Retribution After Munich

The Mossad’s assassination campaign, sometimes referred to as Operation Wrath of God, was launched in response to the tragic events of the 1972 Munich Olympics.Armed Palestinian militants attacked the Olympic Games, resulting in the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes. In the aftermath, Israel targeted individuals they believed were linked to the attack and broader terrorism efforts.

• At least four Palestinians were killed in major European cities: Paris, Rome, Athens, and Nicosia.
• An additional six were killed elsewhere throughout the decade.

The operation’s intensity and controversial nature inspired Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film, Munich, bringing the historical events to a wider audience.

The Kilowatt System: A Secret Intelligence Network

Evidence of western intelligence support surfaced in encrypted cables discovered in Swiss archives by Dr. Aviva Guttmann, a historian specializing in strategy and intelligence at Aberystwyth University. These cables were part of a secret system called Kilowatt.

• Established in 1971, Kilowatt facilitated information sharing among 18 western intelligence services.
• Participating countries included Israel, the UK, the US, France, Switzerland, Italy, and West Germany.

The network circulated raw intelligence, including details about safe houses, vehicles, movements of suspected individuals, tactics used by palestinian armed groups, and analytical reports.

According to Guttmann, A lot was very granular, linking individuals to specific attacks and giving details that would be of great help. perhaps at the very beginning, [western officials] were unaware [of the killings] but afterwards there was a lot of press reporting and other evidence suggesting strongly what the Israelis were doing. She further noted, They were even sharing the results of their own investigations into the assassinations with the agency – mossad – which was most likely to have done them.

Golda meir’s Demands and the Evidence Trail

Golda Meir, then Israeli Prime Minister, insisted that the Mossad provide solid evidence linking targets to the Munich attack or other acts of terrorism against Israeli interests. Much of this evidence originated from western intelligence services and was transmitted thru the Kilowatt network.

key Assassinations and the Intelligence Behind Them

The Mossad’s first assassination targeted Wael Zwaiter, a Palestinian intellectual working at the Libyan embassy in Rome.He was killed shortly after the Munich attack.

• Zwaiter’s defenders maintained he was wrongly identified and had no ties to terrorism.
• Kilowatt cables indicated that western security services had repeatedly informed Israel that Zwaiter was providing weapons and logistical support to the Black September Organization (BSO), the group responsible for the Munich attack.

Another victim, Mahmoud al-Hamshari, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s representative in France, was killed in Paris. The Kilowatt cables detailed his diplomatic and fundraising activities but also alleged his involvement in recruiting terrorist cells.

The assassination of Mohamed Boudia, a key logistician for terrorist plots by the BSO and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was significantly aided by Swiss authorities. Boudia, a veteran of the Algerian war of independence, was tracked after Swiss intelligence provided details about his car. An Israeli assassination squad afterward killed him with a landmine in Paris.

Guttmann stated, I’m not sure the Israeli [assassination] campaign would have been possible without the tactical information from the European intelligence services. Certainly, it was of huge benefit. But it was also very crucial for the Mossad to know that they had that tacit support.

The Lillehammer Affair: A Case of Mistaken Identity

In one instance, MI5, the British domestic intelligence service, provided the Mossad with its only photograph of Ali Hassan Salameh, a key BSO leader believed to be responsible for the Munich attack.Based on this photograph, the Mossad mistakenly identified and killed a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer, Norway. The ensuing scandal led Meir to suspend Operation Wrath of God.

Despite this setback, Guttmann asserts that western European services continued to supply Israel with intelligence on potential targets even after the Lillehammer incident.

the “War of the Spooks” and its Contemporary Relevance

Former members of the Israeli assassination teams have stated they were unaware of the source of the information identifying their targets but were confident in its reliability. Palestinian former militants acknowledged a “war of the spooks” between the Mossad and Palestinian clandestine networks.

Guttmann emphasizes the contemporary relevance of these revelations, particularly in light of the ongoing conflict in Gaza. She notes the challenges of oversight in intelligence-sharing between nations and the potential for secret international relations to operate beyond public scrutiny.

Guttmann concludes, When it comes to intelligence-sharing between services of different states, oversight is very difficult. International relations of the secret state are completely off the radar of politicians, parliaments or the public. Even today there will be a lot of information being shared about which we know absolutely nothing.

mossad is believed to have been responsible for killing the political head of Hamas,Ismail Haniyeh,in Tehran last year,while other Israeli security agencies have been involved in the assassination of a series of Hamas leaders in Gaza and Beirut. In the last year, Israel also killed the veteran head and dozens of top officials of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Islamist militant organisation.