In the aftermath of Black September's assassination of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich games, Prime Minister Golda Meir okays a black-box operation to hunt down and kill all involved. A team of five gathers in Switzerland led by Avner, a low-level Mossad techie whose father was a war hero and whose wife is pregnant. It's an expendable team, but relying on paid informants, they track and kill several in Europe and Lebanon. They must constantly look over their shoulders for the CIA, KGB, PLO, and their own sources. As the body count mounts -- with retribution following retribution -- so do questions, doubts, and sleepless nights. Loyalties blur. What does it mean to be a Jew?

Robert: We are supposed to be righteous. That's a beautiful thing. And we're losing it. If I lose that, that's everything. That's my soul.

Avner: We can't afford to be that decent anymore.

Robert: I don't know if we were ever that decent.

Ephraim: We deposit money from a fund that doesn't exist into a box we don't know about in a bank we've never set foot in. We can't help you because we never heard of you before.

Golda Meir: Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values.

Jeanette: [Before she is executed by Avner and Steve] Maybe you want to hire me. You know how good I am. No, don't! Such a fucking waste of talent!

Hans: [When Avner covering the naked body of the dead Jeanette with her robe] Leave it!

Steve: The only blood that matters to me is Jewish blood.

Avner: [over the phone with his infant daughter] Hey, sweetheart, this is your papa... this my voice, my darling... don't forget what I sound like, okay?

Ephraim: That's touching, in a juvenile sort of way.

Daphna: We should stay at home.

Avner: You are the only home I ever had.

Daphna: [Laughs] This is so corny.

Avner: What? That took a lot for me to say!

Daphna: I bet. Why did I have to marry a sentimentalist? You're ruining my life.

Avner: [to their newborn baby] Your mother's teasing me.

Steve: Don't fuck with the Jews.

Avner: There is no peace at the end of this.

[last lines]

Avner: Break bread with me. Come on, you're a Jew in a foreign land. It's written somewhere I should invite you to break bread with me. Break bread with me, Ephraim.

Ephraim: No.

Avner: [about their newborn baby] She's frightfully ugly.

Daphna: She takes after her father.

Tony - Andreas' Friend: All of this blood comes back to us.

Papa: Let me see your hands.

[he grabs Avner's hands and compares them to his own]

Papa: Too big for a good cook. That was my problem too! I had been a master, but I have thick, stupid butcher's hands just like yours. Oh, we are tragic men. Butcher's hands, gentle souls.

Avner: It will be beautiful.

Avner: [after sex] How long into pregnancy are you supposed to stop having sex?

Daphna: Labor.

        Golda Meir: Forget peace for now. We have to show them we're strong.

Avner's Mother: [on building the state of Israel] We had to take it, because no one would ever give it to us.

Carl: It's strange, to think of oneself as an assassin.

Avner: Think of yourself as something else then.

Ephraim: We have 11 Palestinian names, each one of them had a hand in planning Munich. We want them all dead.

Golda Meir: I am hearing today with new ears.

Ephraim: We kill for our future. We kill for peace.

Avner: [interrupting a rambling explanation from Carl] Stop... chasing the mice inside your skull.

General Zamir: [after giving orders to assassinate those responsible for Munich] Do you have any questions?

Avner: So this isn't about guarding tourists on El Al jets?

General Zamir: No questions? Did we mention how dangerous this is?

Golda Meir: Your wife is pregnant?

Avner: Yes, seven months.

Golda Meir: Mazel tov. You were one of my favorite bodyguards. You know, I like neat, durable men.

Avner: You like having the son of a hero around?

Golda Meir: Truth be told, you don't look much like your father.

Avner: No?

Golda Meir: Your mother is who you resemble.

Steve: You know how to shoot, to assassinate people, right? I mean, you make dolls in a toyshop, and you... you shop for sofas? And you- I don't know what you do.

Carl: Me? I worry.

Steve: [to Avner] So why did they make you team leader?

Hans: Because he really knows how to cook a brisket.

Avner: [starts laughing]

Carl: [to Avner] I knew guys like you in the army. You 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.

Mossad Accountant: In the operational funds box we will deposit 250,000 American dollars. You take it out - we put more in. I want receipts!

[he slams his hand on his desk for emphasis]

Mossad Accountant: You are not working for the Baron Rothschild! You're working for Israel, a small country! I'm an old Galicianer from a mud hut in the Ukraine, and I don't trust Yekke putzes let loose in Europe with unlimited operational expenses!