Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a matched gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
The Schmooze

Terrorist’s Widow Treated in Tel Aviv Hospital

Being the widow of one of the Middle East’s most notorious terrorists isn’t enough to stop Israeli doctors from treating you.

In one of today’s stranger news items, Israel’s Channel 2 is reporting that the wife of Mohammed Oudeh, the mastermind behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, is receiving medical care at Assuta Hospital in Tel Aviv. Channel 2 reporter Ohad Hamo says she’s in a coma, and is being visited by daughters who’ve arrived from Jordan and Ramallah. A third daughter is reportedly on her way from Syria — an unusual situation, to say the least, given relations between the two countries.

The nature of the older woman’s medical condition is unclear, as are the reasons for her arrival in Tel Aviv from Jordan. Assuta cited medical confidentiality in refusing to confirm or deny her presence at the hospital.

Assuming the report is true, the Shmooze can only imagine the political and diplomatic considerations that resulted in Israel’s decision to allow the woman entry and provide her with medical treatment.

Her husband, whose nom de guerre was Abu Daoud, masterminded the hostage-taking of Israel’s delegation at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The attack resulted in the deaths of 11 Israelis.

Abu Daoud died of a kidney ailment last year in Syria. He remained unrepentant, threatening Israel in a final statement: “Today, I cannot fight you any more, but my grandson will and his grandsons, too.”

It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!

This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions. 

We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.

As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday! 

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.