Yes. We don't work with governments.
Louis said. But...
But you did what you did because you have to feed your family.
PAPA: I blew up trains, bridges...
and trucks full of Germans during the war.
My brothers were killed, my papa and my sister were both hanged.
She was a young girl.
Papa, the guest doesn't want to hear your war stories.
We paid this price, so Vichy scum could be replaced...
by Gaullist scum...
and the Nazis could be replaced by Stalin and America.
We stay away from governments.
We say grace?
Maybe our guest could lead us.
No, no, no. It's not required.
[Speaking French]
Our Father, who gives us obedient and respectful clients...
who obey the rules according to which our business thrives...
...whose prevarications and deceptions...
In my despair I fathered madmen...
who dress like factory workers, but never do manual labor...
and who read nonsense and spout pompous bullshit...
about Algerians and who love nothing...
not Algerians or French...
or flesh and blood, or anything living.
So I have sympathy for a man who can say, "I have a papa"...
and who does what he must for his family.
[Speaking French]
I will say grace.
There's some opinion you should be punished...
for what happened in Beirut.
We didn't know so many would die.
I'm in business with death. Do you think I'm squeamish?
The world has been rough with you, with your tribe.
It's right to respond roughly to such treatment.
You pay well and you pay promptly, so we'll continue together.
But no more infractions. Thank you. You have my word.
A few andouillettes and boudins noirs...
black blood sausage and a Loire cheese, Selles-sur-Cher.
We cover it in ash to preserve it. Thank you.
You could have been my son.
But you're not. Remember that.
We'll do business, but you aren't family.
[Car engine starting]
I have a new name for you.
I want Ali Hassan Salameh.
No.
You know where he is. You know where all the names are.
Salameh. Untouchable.
Salameh.
Zaid Muchassi.
Zaid Muchassi is in Athens in two weeks.
Not one of our names. Nevertheless.
He is Black September's KGB contact.
Hussein al-Chir was the KGB contact.
Yes. But you put a bomb under Monsieur al-Chir's bed in Cyprus...
and now he's defunct. Muchassi is his replacement.
I hear he's much tougher than his predecessor.
We offer Muchassi's whereabouts at the new rate.
What new rate? Three names for $600,000...
is $200,000 for one name.
I need you to find me a place to work in Athens.
Of course. Safe house.
Is this Louis's idea of a joke?
I've had nightmares that looked like this.
So when they explode, they toss little white balls of phosphorus...
here all around his room. Each ball, it's like a little sun.
It burns at around 5,000 degrees.
So the air catches fire.
Everything in the vicinity melts.
Now, the bad news is they are grenades...
so I modified them to use with a remote detonator.
I also should mention that they're quite old...
like World War II.
Only four were viable. We should dump the rest.
There's a porter at the hotel where Muchassi's staying.
He's gonna let us in the room when Muchassi goes out.
Hey. Who provided these prehistoric explosives?
Louis. Yeah. I'll thank him for that.
[Door opening in the stairwell]
Tallyho.
[Footsteps and voices approaching]
Stop! Stop!
PLO! PLO! ETA! ETA!
Put the gun down or we'll shoot.
Basque! Basque!
Okay.
Put the gun down! Put it down!
Put it down.
[Man speaking German]
[Speaking German]
Which French? Louis? Who are you? English?
Basque. ETA. Red Army Faction.
He's ANC. African. African.
We are from Amman. I'm Ali.
Said. George. Abed.
We paid for two nights.
He said it was safe.
He told us the same. Yes. Safe house.
Yes.
So we're safe?
Safe.
Everyone is safe.
[Static over radio]
[Arabic instrumental music playing on radio]
[French pop song playing on radio]
[Arabic instrumental music]
[Let's Stay Together by Al Green]
Eventually the Arab states will rise against Israel.
They don't like Palestinians, but they hate the Jews more.
It won't be like 1967.
The rest of the world will see by then what the Israelis do to us.
They won't help when Egypt and Syria attack. Even Jordan.
Israel will cease to exist.
What?
This is a dream. You can't take back a country you never had.
You sound like a Jew. Fuck you.
I'm the voice inside your head telling you what you already know.
You people have nothing to bargain with.
You'll never get the land back.
You'll all die old men in refugee camps waiting for Palestine.
We have a lot of children. They'll have children.
So we can wait forever.
And if we need to, we can make the whole planet unsafe for Jews.
You kill Jews and the world feels bad for them...
and thinks you are animals. Yes.
But then the world will see how they've made us into animals.
They'll start to ask questions about the conditions in our cages.
You are Arabs. There are lots of places for Arabs.
You're a Jew sympathizer.
All you Germans, you're too soft on Israel.
Well, you give us money, but you feel guilty about Hitler.
And the Jews exploit that guilt.
My father didn't gas any Jews.
Tell me something, Ali. What?
Do you really miss your father's olive trees?
Do you honestly think you have to get back all that... that nothing?
That chalky soil and stone huts.
Is that what you really want for your children?
It absolutely is.
It will take a hundred years, but we'll win.
How long did it take the Jews to get their own country?
How long did it take the Germans to make Germany?
And look how well that worked out.
You don't know what it is not to have a home.
That's why you European Reds don't get it.
You say, "It's nothing," but you have a home to come back to.
ETA, ANC, IRA...
we all pretend we care about your international revolution...
but we don't care.
We want to be nations.
Home is everything.
No, no, no. No, I watch.
You only take money enclosed in papers, yes?
Of course.
[Speaking Arabic]
Look there.
Here they come in their pumpkin coach.
The Russians and...
Cinderella.
[Speaking Arabic]
Do we detonate if the other Arabs go into the room with him?
Why are the Russians waiting?
Why don't they leave? They are waiting.
We are waiting. Stay calm. Hey, I'm calm.
He's in his room. Do it. Is he alone?
How do we know if he's alone? Just flip the switch. Do it.
I don't understand it. What's wrong?
It's a piece of shit.
What? Fuck! Not again. Wait, wait.
Where's the explosion? It should've exploded by now.
What's gone wrong? It's another malfunction.
You know what?
Or maybe it's delayed... He has fucked up again!
Or maybe it could still blow up. This is a waste of time!
Careful with that stuff, Hans.
Hans! Hans, what are you doing?
Hans, get back here!
Hey, hey! What is he doing?
Hans. No, no.
So how long is he going to be?
Maybe one hour.
[Speaking German]
[Screaming in Arabic]
[Hans panting]
[Shouting in Greek]
I know you.
Stop!
Get in! Head down!
Ali? Ali? Ali?
Are you incapable of making something that works?
Shut up! You shut up!
Does anybody speak Greek?
Shut him up! Did we kill a Russian?
That's not good! Where did you get your training?
Every single bomb, every fucking one, is fucked up.
I was not trained to do this!
I was trained to dismantle bombs, not to build them!
Holy shit.
Shin Bet wanted bomb dismantlers. They picked me from the army.
A toy maker. Give me some money.
They figured I was good with small machines.
But then after Munich, they asked if I could build bombs instead.
So I said yes.
Come on. Here.
[Cursing in Greek]
REPORTER: The three went to the side of the customs hall...
took out pieces of their rifles, and quickly assembled them.
Then they threw hand grenades into the long queues of passengers...
waiting to clear passport control and began automatic fire.
It was all over in a matter of minutes.
And the firing was indiscriminate.
Salameh is in London.
He goes there periodically to meet with his CIA contact.
His what? Salameh works for the CIA.
Bullshit.
Salameh guarantees that Black September...
won't touch American diplomats.
In exchange, the CIA gives him lots of money.
And they don't ask what he uses it for.
Did he tell them about Munich in advance?
Did the CIA know about Munich?
The CIA didn't even know Black September existed...
before Munich.
One of the guerrillas was shot through the head...
by a ricochet bullet.
A second was blown up by his own hand grenade.
LOUIS: Since then, he's been busy.
Hasn't he?
All manner of costly exercises.
Shooting tourists in the Athens airport...
blowing up pharmacies in Amsterdam...
and that Mossad agent in Barcelona before that.
Europe hasn't been this interesting since Napoleon marched to Moscow.
Do you have to do that here?
Salameh is in London. For the usual price.
We followed him from his doctor to his hotel.
He's here for eye treatment. Salameh. You saw him?
You followed him? Yes.
Wearing sunglasses in the rain. Why didn't you shoot him?
There were bodyguards. Civilians.
Were they armed? Yes.
Well then, they're not civilians. I'd have done it...
if you'd give me half a chance to actually shoot someone.
I'm the only one who actually wants to shoot these guys.
Maybe that's why we never let you do it.
We only go after our targets. Since when?
I mean, why are we worried about that now?
Do you have any idea how many laws we've broken?
It's time to stop your agonizing. It's counterproductive.
Including, incidentally, the laws of the state of Israel...
which has no death penalty.
You know what your problem is, habibi?
You're disorientated.
Because the guys we're killing are dressed in expensive suits...
and this is London and not some ugly Arab village.
I'm not disoriented.
I'm keeping my sanity by occasionally reminding myself...
that in spite of...
But it's the same old war we're fighting...
I'm still, at least in principle, a human being.
...over the same old scrap of desert!
It's just we've brought our war to Copenhagen and Kensington...
and it's not like these European anti-Semites don't deserve that.
Unless we learn to act like them, we will never defeat them.
We act like them all the time.
What, you think the Palestinians invented bloodshed?
How do you think we got control of the land? By being nice?
Somebody pull down this man's pants. See if he's circumcised.
I think we have a double agent in our midst.
Don't you dare accuse me of that! Stop it!
My son died in '67, you foul-mouthed son of a bitch.
Everything you can ask, I've done for Israel.
Ask for a reassignment if this is so distasteful.
Why, it's not distasteful to you? No.
'Cause the only blood that matters to me is Jewish blood.
Nice job, eh. Nice job leading.
If the bodyguards are armed, we kill them.
They're armed. Well, then we kill them!
[Speaking Arabic]
Taxi!
Roger Burke, you ugly fuck! What are you doing in London?
Get your hands off me.
Put them up. Put them up, you fat, wet puss!
Let's show these limey fucks what we're made of.
Hey, wait a minute! Who the fuck... Who do you think this is then?
Roger Burke. Who do you think this is?
No, you idiot. That is not... Lay off him, asshole.
That's not him. Come on. It's Roger Burke.
I'm sorry about my friend, you know?
He's a fucked-up, belligerent guy with a serious drinking problem.
Hey, come here. Lose it.
Come on. Calm down! Hey, calm down.
Hey, come here! Calm down!
Back off. Get back!
Back off! Back off! Fuck off!
It's me. All right!
All right. Come on. Fuck off!
It's me, Roger, Orrin! Come on.
It's me. Remember me? Sorry. It's all right.
You should have ducked, Roger!
Fucking Americans!
What the fuck is that? Was it Salameh?
Yes, of course it was fucking Salameh!
[Soft piano music playing]
I take it she'd eat you up a bit, huh?
You old dog.
He's got some ideas.
Oh, the American bloke? Aren't we all?
So you've heard these rumors? These are wild stories.
Wild stories. Yeah?
Yeah.
Can I?
I have to go to bed soon. I work in the morning.
What kind of work do you do?
The kind that drives you to drink.
We must have the same job, then.
I love your accent.
I love your perfume.
Cuts right through the smoke.
Does it?
It's very nice.
Look, I don't want to be forward...
but it's late...
and I do have to get up early.
So...
So? So...
So, you're very nice, and...
Are you really going to make me ask?
I just can't.
Pity.
You're very attractive. I know.
If you come to your senses...
once you get up to your lonely room...
well, maybe I'll be here.
Or maybe I'll be in my room, alone in bed.
Good night.
The drunk Americans. You think they were CIA?
They could've been. For all we know, Louis is CIA.
They work both sides. Everyone does.
Or Louis is Mossad. Now, maybe he isn't...
but they're using him to feed us information.
There's no direct link.
Or Mossad's giving it to CIA, which is giving it to Louis...
and Ephraim's demanding we give him Louis...
because he knows we expect him to do...
Stop chasing the mice inside your skull.
You know, I never thought you'd last.
I thought the same about you.
From the beginning you seemed so reluctant.
I was born reluctant. Ask my mother.
If I can't kvetch, I can't do my job.
You ever feel reluctant?
I'm not comfortable with confusion.
I knew guys like you in the army.
You'll do any terrifying thing you're asked to do...
but you have to do it running.
You think you can outrun your fears, your doubts.
The only thing that really scares you guys is stillness.
But everyone's overtaken, eventually.
Now, the mice need a brandy. Will you join me?
No, I'm going to go upstairs, straight to bed.
You okay drinking by yourself?
It's just a shot to numb the brain. Good night.
Oh.
Beware of the local honey trap. Indeed?
You can't miss her. You don't want to.
[Phone ringing]
Hello.
This is a trunk call from Mr. Storsch.
Do you accept the charges?
Shit, Avner, you woke up the baby, but that's okay... I mean...
How are you?
I miss you.
You're in England or Australia...
or the North Pole... Yeah, that's right.
So listen, I was thinking...
when I'm finished doing what I'm doing here...
I want to come to Brooklyn to see you.
Brooklyn is depressing. It's got more churches than Jerusalem.
Listen to her talk.
[Baby gurgling]
Can you hear me? Can she hear me? Yeah, yeah.
Hey. Talk to me.
Daphna, make her talk.
[Baby gurgling]
Dada.
[Whispering] Hey. Hey, sweetheart. It's your papa.
This is my voice, darling.
This is what I sound like. Don't forget, okay?
Listen, I have to get her to bed. She's tired.
She'll dream about you.
REPORTER: We're standing at a distance, as instructed by the terrorists.
Are we going? Is it to the airport?
Can we talk to someone, just to say...
Shut up, okay? Just get on the bus, okay?
Just to tell our families. Just to say we are all right!
Everybody, just relax, okay? Relax! Calm down.
We will ride this bus and fly away. After, you go back to your home...
or to your Olympic Games.
[Reporters chattering]
[Police dogs barking]
[Groaning]
[Exclaiming]
[Shouting]
[Speaking Hebrew]
[Speaking Arabic]
[Gasping]
[Sniffing]
Carl. You asshole.
I saw her first.
Carl?
[Screaming]
She's Dutch, not political, entirely business-minded.
She lives in Hoorn. She's there now.
This is dependable information.
For which you pay nothing.
We're giving you this. You understand why?
Because you want me to believe that you had nothing to do...
with the murder of my partner.
We inhabit a world of intersecting secrecies.
We live and die at the places where those secrecies meet.
That's what we accept.
We buy information for you from your enemies.
This alerts them.
You're not the only people looking for names.
You're telling me I'm being hunted now?
He's telling you it's time for you to quit.
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong...
but time and chance happens to them all.
Evil falls suddenly.
Who can say when it falls?
[Announcements over PA in French]
So you're really gonna kill her?
All this blood comes back to us. Eventually it will work.
Even if it takes years, we'll beat them.
We're Jews, Avner.
Jews don't do wrong because our enemies do wrong.
We can't afford to be that decent anymore.
I don't know that we ever were that decent.
Suffering thousands of years of hatred doesn't make you decent.
But we're supposed to be righteous. That's a beautiful thing.
That's Jewish.
That's what I knew, that's what I was taught.
And now I'm losing it, and I lose that, that's...
That's... That's everything.
That's my soul.
You need to go rest somewhere. You don't have to do this one.
When I need you again, I'll find you.
[Train whistle blaring]
[Radio playing]
Excuse me. Who are you?
Do you know why we're here?
I want to get dressed, okay?
Maybe you want to hire me. You know how good I am.
No. Don't.
It's such a fucking waste of talent.
Where're you going? Stay here.
Shell. Shell.
Yeah.
[Gasping]
Leave it.
HANS: In seven months we've killed six of the 11 names.
We've killed one replacement.
One of our targets is in prison and four...
including Ali Hassan Salameh, are at large.
One of our own has fallen.
Since we began, the other side has sent letter bombs to 11 embassies...
hijacked three planes...
killed 130 passengers in Athens and wounded scores more...
and killed our military attache in Washington.
Some of it was done by a Venezuelan called Carlos the Jackal...
who replaced Zaid Muchassi...
who replaced Hussein al-Chir.
Black September's original leadership has been decimated.
But new leaders are emerging...
for whom Black September wasn't violent enough.
And to dispatch our six dispatched targets...
we must have spent something close to $2 million, right?
You've been cooking. Are you expecting company?
Mrs. Meir says to the Knesset...
the world must see that killing Jews...
will be from now on an expensive proposition.
But killing Palestinians isn't exactly cheap.
If all 11 were dead, you'd stop? Yes.
You're lying. What about their replacements?
With each time we kill, we create six more.
Maybe they'll have to keep killing them, then.
Forever.
Five targets are still alive.
That's five men that need to be killed.
Eventually you forget that in the beginning you hated doing it.
For me personally, I feel less every day.
One day I'm going to wake up, I'm going to kill...
I'm going to go back to bed, I'm not going to feel anything at all.
Hey, Hans? You know there's a rule in the book against blind drunks.
Why don't you stop drinking and eat something?
I mean, there's enough food here to feed Bangladesh.
I keep seeing that Dutch woman, you know, sprawled out like that.
It's not that I wish we hadn't killed her.
I wish I had let you close up her housecoat.
Yeah, but you weren't yourself.
[Whispering] Avner.
Avner.
I went to Hans' flat above the antique shop...
just to check up on him because he was so...
Anyway, he's gone somewhere, and I waited all night...
and he's not come back.
Knife.
They didn't take anything.
[Phone ringing]
What?
It will be beautiful.
LOUIS: Ali Hassan Salameh is in Tarifa on the Spanish coast.
He's at a compound guarded by all the predictable trouble.
Bomb makers often die accidental deaths.
In Athens you shot a KGB agent.
Many people must want to kill you, Monsieur Storsch.
But why would I do that? You pay better than anyone.
It's dangerous going after Salameh.
But he planned the Munich massacre.
Eliminate him, and they'll let you go home. Don't you think?
Yes, Louis. I do.
You could have a kitchen like that someday.
It costs dearly, but home always does.
[Festive voices]
Shit! It's like a funhouse in there.
Can you tell how many?
That's him.
Are you sure it's him, Avner?
You have to be sure.
[Yelling in Arabic]
I'm Avner Kaufman. We know.
You want to ride with us? Hop in.
Please.
I'm Amos. This is Avi. Shin Bet.
We're not supposed to know who you are...
because we're not officers.
We're just shit and no one tells us shit.
We've heard about what you've done.
We want to say it's an honor to meet you.
It's an honor for me, too.
I have no problems with anything you guys did...
except the woman on the houseboat in Hoorn.
Steve's told us about her.
We took a leave of absence...
and killed her off the company clock.
Don't be an idiot.
Otherwise, as I said, we have no problems with the job you did.
Except three of my men died.
According to your colleague...
I should say, emphatically, according to your colleague...
not in any way your fault.
He sings your praises.
Best guy he ever worked for, and so on.
He says this French group... Louis was his name?
They sold the terrorists information regarding your whereabouts.
They helped kill your men.
I know Steve believes that, but it's not true.
Tell us who they are.
They won't work with you.
It's about loyalty. You're an Israeli officer.
That's your only loyalty! That's it!
Okay.
This is General Hofi of the Northern Command.
You look good.
Listen, the Prime Minister is proud of you and your men.
She wishes she could tell you herself, but she can't.
She never heard of you, right?
Good. She says you've done a great thing for your people.
For Israel.
That's it. There is no medal or anything.
June 16, 1973. Avner Kaufman interview.
Go ahead.
Tell me what you learned.
What I learned? Yes.
What did you learn?
For God's sake!
Tell me the names and numbers of your sources.
Avner, tell me.
Tell me the names and numbers of your sources.
Please.
I can have you court-martialed, and I might.
You can't. I don't work for you.
I don't exist.
You look terrible. I'm not good right now.
You don't need to tell me anything. It's taken a lot from you.
I'm alive, right? And the rest sorts itself out.
I'm not a fool, Avner. I never said you were a fool.
Everyone in Europe died. Most of my family.
A huge family.
[Making blowing sound]
I never talked to you about it.
I knew. You knew? So what was there to say?
I didn't die, because I came here.
When I arrived, I walked up to the top of a hill in Jerusalem...
and prayed for a child.
I never prayed before, but I was praying then.
And I could feel every one of them praying with me.
You are what we prayed for.
What you did, you did for us.
You did for your daughter, but also for us.
Every one of the ones who died, died wanting this.
We had to take it, because no one will ever give it to us.
A place to be a Jew among Jews, subject to no one.
I thank God for hearing my prayer.
Do you want to know, Mama?
Do you want me to tell you what I did?
No.
Whatever it took, whatever it takes.
A place on Earth. We have a place on Earth.
At last.
What's this? Baklava.
From Rehovot? The only edible baklava is from the Arabs in Jaffa.
Eat it on the plane. You're too thin.
I hope it gives you a bellyache.
Listen, forget it.
You go see your wife, your child, rest for a few more months.
Then we're gonna put you back in the field.
Not Europe. Probably Latin America.
You think it over. Rest, Avner. Then you come back.
No.
[Church bells tolling]
That's all right.
Oh, no, no, no. It's okay. It's okay.
Look at that beautiful hair.
Nightmares?
Yes.
Come back to bed.
I have no idea where I should be.
The place is nice. You've made it really nice.
The kitchen's too big.
Sylvie, I need to speak to your father.
Is Louis there?
I need to speak to your father. Have him call me.
212-664-7665.
I'll wait. He must call me. I'll wait.
[Phone ringing]
Am I being hunted?
Is my family being hunted?
How is your father? He's well? Your family is well?
I don't know. How is my family? Are they well?
Are they going to be okay?
I'm sending you a parcel of sausage and cheese.
Real cheese. The kind you can't find in America.
It isn't pasteurized, so it won't taste like shit.
It's a real pleasure to hear your voice again.
I think about you with concern.
Do you believe me?
Avner?
You believe me, Avner?
You know my name?
Of course I do.
Now, listen to me. It's important.
No harm will come to you from me.
[Phone clicking]
[Dial tone]
You can't go in there, sir. It's a restricted area. Sir?
I tried to stop him. I don't know who this guy is.
Security!
If you're Mossad, you know who I am.
If you don't, tell Ephraim Avner came to see him.
Being in this room is by appointment only.
Shut up and listen to me.
I won't hesitate to kill other people's children...
if you hurt my child. Understand? Do I know you, sir?
Or wives if you hurt my wife, or fathers if you hurt my father.
I don't care. I'll go to the newspapers.
I'll give every name of everybody who was in the meetings.
I'll tell them everything if you don't leave my family alone! Okay?
[Screaming]
I love you.
Avner.
Phone for you.
He's Israeli.
You think we'd hurt your family?
I think anyone is capable of anything.
I think you're losing your mind.
Did I commit murder?
I want you to give me proof that everyone we killed...
had a hand in Munich.
I don't discuss such things with people who don't exist.
You want to discuss, come back to existence.
You want your daughter to grow up in exile?
I want evidence.
Professor Hamshari with the beautiful wife and child?
He was implicated in a failed assassination attempt on Ben-Gurion.
He was recruiting for Fatah France.
You stopped him.
We should have tried to bring him to Israel.
And Zwaiter, your harmless little writer in Rome?
He was behind the bomb on El Al flight 76 in 1968.
He was working on another bomb last August.
I could go on and on with this.
According to evidence nobody has seen.
If these people committed crimes, we should have arrested them.
Like Eichmann.
If these guys live, Israelis die.
Whatever doubts you have, Avner, you know this is true.
You did well, but you're unhappy.
I killed seven men. Not Salameh.
We'll get him, of course.
You think you were the only team?
It's a big operation. You were only a part.
Does that assuage your guilt?
Did we accomplish anything at all?
Every man we killed has been replaced by worse.
Why cut my fingernails? They'll grow back.
Did we kill to replace the terrorist leadership...
or the Palestinian leadership?
You tell me what we've done.
You killed them for the sake of a country...
you now choose to abandon.
The country your mother and father built, that you were born into.
You killed them for Munich, for the future, for peace.
There's no peace at the end of this, no matter what you believe.
You know this is true. Here's what I know.
Your father is sick, your mother will be alone.
You're a sabra. Your wife and daughter are sabras.
What I came to say is this...
come home.
Come to my house for dinner tonight.
Come on. You're a Jew, you're a stranger.
It's written someplace or other that I'm meant to...
ask you to come and break bread with me.
So break bread with me, Ephraim.
No.