Framing the Munich Olympics massacre in the Israeli press

This article analysed the real-time coverage of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre by the three main Israeli newspapers at the time: Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz. It found that while there were noticeable differences in the coverage of the event by the three papers, all of them framed the massacre as integral part of the black-and-white confrontation between Israel and Arab terrorism. Paradoxically, this ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ dichotomy seems to have played into the perpetrators’ hands by casting them as part of a formidable global terrorist network rather than a small fringe group, on the one hand, and as a significant factor affecting the possible evolution of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, on the other.