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Operation Wrath of God by Aviva Guttman

January 31, 2026 3:10 PM | Anonymous
OPERATION WRATH OF GOD: THE SECRET HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE AND MOSSAD’S ASSASSINATION CAMPAIGN

BY AVIVA GUTTMANN
AUGUST 7, 2025
PUBLISHER: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

 


Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and Mossad's Assassination Campaign

by Aviva Guttmann

'Based on ground-breaking research from a rare archive in Switzerland. Guttmann lifts the lid on Mossad's most secret 'licence to kill' operations in Europe, with the aid of other western intelligence agencies. A gripping and tense narrative.' Helen Fry, author of Spymaster: The Man who saved MI6

In this unprecedented history of intelligence cooperation during the Cold War, Aviva Guttmann uncovers the key role of European intelligence agencies in facilitating Mossad's Operation Wrath of God. She reveals how, in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre, Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorism were hunted and killed by Mossad with active European cooperation. Through unique access to unredacted documents in the Club de Berne archive, she shows how a secret coalition of intelligence agencies supplied Mossad with information about Palestinians on a colossal scale and tacitly supported Israeli covert actions on European soil. These agencies helped to anticipate and thwart a number of Palestinian terrorist plots, including some revealed here for the first time. This extraordinary book reconstructs the hidden world of international intelligence, showing how this parallel order enabled state relations to be pursued independently of official foreign policy constraints or public scrutiny.

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'Dr Guttmann has produced a gripping historical account that is both riveting and terrifying in equal measure. It has the fast-paced adventure of a novel. This is more than a history book, and is as relevant today as the period it covers. I cannot recommend it highly enough.' Michael Goodman, author of The Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee

'This book reads like a John Le Carré thriller. Packed with new revelations and gripping details, it stands out as the most authoritative account of Operation Wrath of God.' Ahron Bregman, author of The Spy Who Fell to Earth

'This is a remarkable, beautifully written and carefully researched book on the highly secret world of international co-operation between intelligence services. It also sheds important new light on assassination as a tool of foreign policy.' Richard J. Aldrich, author of GCHQ

'This well-researched insightful book lifts the lid on the contribution of European intelligence agencies to Israel's Operation Wrath of God which was directed towards eliminating Palestinian groups such as Black September, responsible for the killing of athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. The author has revealed the work of the 'Club de Berne' and its liaison with the Mossad and shone a bright light on those who live in the shadows.' Colin Shindler, author of A History of Modern Israel 

See also:

Operation Wrath of God as reviewed by Daniel Byman for Lawfare  – November 7, 2025

Operation Wrath of God as reviewed by Jean-Thomas Nicole for The Cipher Brief  – January 24, 2026


Images of the Israeli Olympians who were murdered by the attackers: NDTV World

About the book: 
Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and Mossad's Assassination Campaign
by Aviva Guttmann
Cambridge University Press – 350 pages 32.25 (Kindle)
Publication Date: August 7, 2025

About the Author: Aviva Guttmann


Dr Aviva Guttmann is Lecturer in Strategy and Intelligence. Before joining Aberystwyth, she was a Research Associate at King’s College London (KCL) in King’s Intelligence and Security Group and a Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow at the Center for War Studies at Southern Denmark University (Project: LINSEC). Aviva is the founder and chair of the Women’s Intelligence Network (WIN), which connects and promotes women scholars and practitioners in the field of intelligence studies.

Her research focuses on the international relations of intelligence agencies, covert action, and counterterrorism in Europe and the Middle East during and after the Cold War. She is the author of the recently published Operation Wrath of God (Cambridge, 2025) and The Origins of International Counterterrorism (Brill, 2018), co-edited a book on Estimative Intelligence in European Foreign Policymaking, and contributed over 12 articles in three languages to refereed academic journals of historyintelligenceinternationalstrategic, and terrorism studies. She is teaching on topics of intelligence, strategy, and international security. Biography Credit: Aberystwyth University.



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