The life and legacy of the mastermind behind the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre

Wars & Conflicts · Published 15 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Mohammad Daoud Oudeh, known as Abu Daoud, was a central figure in the Palestinian militant movement who orchestrated the 1972 Munich Olympics attack. Despite his role in the deaths of eleven Israeli athletes and a German policeman, he lived a complex life of exile, political recognition, and eventual natural death.

Born in 1937 in Silwan, East Jerusalem, Mohammad Daoud Oudeh was a teacher of physics and mathematics before becoming a prominent militant. Following his displacement during the 1967 Six-Day War, he joined the PLO and helped found Fatah in 1970. He eventually led Black September, an offshoot group formed to carry out international operations following the expulsion of the Fedayeen Movement from Jordan. His most infamous act was the 1972 Munich massacre, which he planned in July of that year, personally briefing the squad and guiding them to the Olympic Village.

The aftermath of the Munich attack defined much of Oudeh's later life. In 1977, he was arrested in Paris, but French authorities refused a West German extradition request due to procedural errors, allowing him to travel to Algeria. He survived an assassination attempt in 1981 in Warsaw, where he was shot five times in a hotel coffee shop. Later, following the 1993 Oslo Accords, he moved to the West Bank, though he was eventually barred from returning after publishing his memoirs, which detailed his role in the Munich operation.

Oudeh remained unrepentant regarding the massacre until his death in 2010 from kidney failure in Damascus. His life was marked by stark contradictions: he was a recipient of the 1999 Palestinian Prize for Culture for his autobiography, yet he remained a figure of international controversy. Upon his death, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas praised his life of resistance, while Oudeh himself maintained that the Munich operation was a strategic success that brought global attention to the Palestinian cause. He was buried in the Martyrs Cemetery in the Yarmouk refugee camp.

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