A photo of the kidnapping of Israeli athletes
Historical stories
Members of the Mossad cell in Norway wrongfully murdered Ahmed Bouchikhi because his descriptions matched those of the leader of the Black September movement, Ali Hassan Salama.
During the Summer Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany, in 1972, the world closely followed, between September 5 and 6, 1972, the events of the kidnapping of a number of Israeli athletes by the Palestinian organization Black September. With their demands, the kidnappers called for the release of hundreds of Arab detainees in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, the kidnapping ended with the killing of 11 Israeli athletes, 5 of the perpetrators and two German policemen.
In the following period, Israel began to conduct a series of intelligence operations with the aim of assassinating the masterminds of the 1972 Munich operation. Among the wanted people on the Mossad list was Ali Hassan Salama, whom the Mossad failed to to murder in 1973, causing a scandal that shocked public opinion.
Similarity in descriptions
In the summer of 1973, Israel obtained false information about the presence of Ali Hassan Salama, an official of the Black September organization, in the Norwegian city of Lillehammer and his work as a waiter in one of its restaurants. After receiving this information, the Mossad recruited 15 of its agents and sent them to Lillehammer to prepare the assassination of Ali Hassan Salama. In the following period, Mossad director Zvi Zamir joined his group of agents in Norway to supervise them and monitor the implementation of the operation.
A photo of Ali Hassan Salama
Furthermore, Lillehammer represented a small Norwegian town. Many foreigners, i.e. Mossad agents, flocked to the city, arousing suspicion among its residents. Faced with this situation, the Norwegian police did not hesitate to impose strict control on Mossad agents in the hope of determining the nature of their expansion into the city.
In the city of Lillehammer, Mossad agents noticed a Moroccan man named Ahmed Bouchikhi talking to another man of Palestinian origin. Meanwhile, Ahmed Bouchikhi’s descriptions closely matched those of Ali Hassan Salama. Furthermore, the latter worked as a waiter in a restaurant. As they moved closer to listen to his conversations, the Mossad agents noticed that Bouchikhi spoke fluent French. This characteristic corresponded to the characteristics of Ali Hassan Salama, who according to Israeli information was fluent in many languages.
Faced with this situation, Mossad agents intensified surveillance on Ahmed Bouchikhi, brother of Moroccan artist Jalloul Bouchikhi, and located his house.
Wrong murder
On 21 July 1973 Ahmed Bouchikhi, accompanied by his pregnant wife, left the Lillehammer cinema and boarded the bus. Once they got off at the station, the couple decided to continue their journey home. While they were unaware, a car stopped near them and two Mossad members got out and opened fire with their pistols on Ahmed Bouchikhi before fleeing.
Furthermore, Ahmed Bouchikhi died instantly at the age of 30 after being exposed to approximately 13 gunshot wounds in different areas of his body.
Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Mossad reported an abject failure and the assassination of the wrong person because Ahmed Bouchikhi’s descriptions matched those of Ali Hassan Salama.
For their part, the Norwegian authorities managed to arrest 6 people belonging to the Mossad assassination squad. Thanks to the information obtained, the police managed to dismantle a large cell of Mossad agents in Norway.
Because they did not directly participate in the assassination, Mossad members arrested in Norway received prison sentences of one to five years.
In the following years, the Mossad managed to precisely locate Ali Hassan Salama and succeeded in assassinating him in Beirut in January 1979.