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Concept
Erika Chambers
Summary
Erika Chambers, also known as Agent Penelope, is a British-Israeli Mossad operative behind the action on 22 January 1979 that killed Ali Hassan Salameh, leader of Black September and lead plotter behind the Munich massacre.
According to Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman's book Rise and Kill First, Erika Chambers was born in the United Kingdom in 1948 to Marcus Chambers, an engineer who designed racing cars, and Lona, a singer and actress from a wealthy Czechoslovakian Jewish family, most of whom were killed in the Holocaust. After studying at the University of Southampton, she moved to Australia before moving to Israel and studying hydrology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1973, she was recruited by the Mossad. In 1975, she assumed a false British identity and began participating in Mossad operations.
Munich Massacre
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, eight members of Black September took hostage and ultimately killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team.
Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre
In response, Israel planned the assassination of those suspected of planning the operation. Ali Hassan Salameh, the leader of Black September and purported architect of the Munich Massacre, was one of those targeted. He was assassinated on 22 January 1979.
After making five unsuccessful attempts on Salameh, Mossad recognised it needed a different approach. From October 1978 over a period of six weeks, agents noted that Salameh spent most afternoons with his wife, former Miss Universe Georgina Rizk, at her apartment in Snoubra, West Beirut, and when not in meetings spent time at the gym and at a sauna. After planning a bomb attack on the sauna, the plan was vetoed due to the potential for an excessive number of civilian casualties.
In November 1978, a British based charity worker named Erika Mary Chambers, travelling on a 1975 issued British passport, entered Beirut. It is also believed that several other Mossad agents entered Beirut at the time, including two using the aliases Peter Scriver and Roland Kolberg, travelling with British and Canadian passports, respectively.
Official source
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