Orian 21: This is how Europe covered up the assassinations of Palestinians on its territory.

Journalist Alan Grich's article looks at a dark period of Israel's covert war against the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the early 1970s, based on Aviva Gottman's book "Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and the Mossad's Assassination Campaign."

The book highlights the effective cooperation among various European intelligence agencies, including the French, in the assassination campaign launched by Israel following the attack on the Munich Olympics in 1972.

The true aim of this campaign went beyond revenge, as it sought to "deliver a fatal blow to the Palestinian cause by eliminating PLO officials."

The book reveals the existence of the "Bern Club," an informal network established in 1969 among European intelligence agencies to exchange sensitive information, which was soon joined by Israel and the United States.

Between 1972 and 1973, around 10 assassinations were carried out in Europe, including 3 in France, where Mahmoud Hamshari, Basel al-Kubaisi, and Muhammad Boudia were killed.

Despite the arrest of 6 Mossad agents in Norway after the assassination of Ahmed Bouchiki, French authorities did not reopen investigations into the assassinations of Hamshari, Boudia, and al-Kubaisi.

Grich poses the question: "Were the French and European intelligence agencies 'useful idiots' for Israel, or were they knowledgeable partners in what was happening?"

Aviva Gottman confirms that declassified documents show public cooperation between European intelligence and Israel.

The documentary film "Dead for Palestine" revisits the targeted assassinations, giving voice to the victims' relatives and their supporters.

Grich notes that this period occurred in a climate of structural racism, where the French media systematically linked Palestinians to terrorism.

Grich criticizes Aviva Gottman for not fully escaping the prevailing security logic, where Palestinian activists are reduced to a phenomenon of terrorism without consideration of the political and historical context.