Erika Chambers

Erika Chambers (; born 1948), 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.

Biography 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 Czechoslovak 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.

Assassination of Salameh 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. came with a back story of graduating from the University of Southampton. In her early 30s and resident in the UK, she joined British-based arms of welfare organisations supporting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and was subsequently invited to Beirut.

Mossad agents noted that Salameh would often travel down Beka Street from his apartment nearby. On 10 January 1979, Chambers paid £L3,500 to rent an apartment on the eighth floor of the Anis Assaf building.

Once resident and working with a Palestinian charity named The House of Steadfastness of the children of Telsata, 100kg of explosive attached to the car by a fellow Mossad agent was remotely exploded, four of his bodyguards and four bystanders,

Wilhelm Dietl After his exposure as an agent of West Germany's secret service the Bundesnachrichtendienst, journalist wrote a series of books, including an autobiography revealing his activities. One book was about a Mossad agent he called Erika Chambers, to whom he also devoted a chapter in another book:

According to Dietl's testimony, Chambers was a British citizen who studied hydrology in Australia. She arrived at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in her early 20s to continue her studies, and was recruited by Mossad.