In 1981, Canadian writer George Jonas was approached by Collins Canada about meeting with Aviv, who claimed to have been involved in Operation Wrath of God, an operation to assassinate the Palestinian militants who carried out the 1972 Munich massacre, in which they took hostage and killed 11 Israeli athletes. In a joint deal, two Toronto-based publishing houses, Lester &amp; Orpen Dennys and Collins Canada Ltd, commissioned Jonas to research and write Aviv's account.