Steven Spielberg's Munich opened in Israel Thursday night. The film did not get good advance press for its portrayal of Mossad agents carrying out the state's revenge for the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

... The film's historical accuracy has been widely questioned in Israel. Critics say the moral soul-searching of Mossad agents portrayed in the film is unlikely.

The film has also been criticised for suggesting equivalence between terrorism and Israel's response to it, the assassination of some of the Munich perpetrators.

Eyal Arad, the Israeli publicist for Munich, told the BBC News website the accusations were overblown and the film "is a thriller inspired by real events, and the film-makers never set out to make a documentary".

Inspired by the George Jonas book Vengeance (1984), Spielberg's film follows a team of Mossad agents tracking down and assassinating those directly or indirectly involved in the Munich massacre.

'Imposter'

But Yossi Melman, an intelligence affairs specialist with the Israeli daily Haaretz, has strong criticism of the film.

"There is no connection between the film and the book, and what actually, really happened," he told the BBC.

The book Vengeance was based on the first-hand account of Mossad agent Yuval Aviv as he tracked down and assassinated those responsible for Munich.

But according to Mr Melman, Yuval Aviv never served in Mossad and the closest he got to working as a spy was working as a gate guard for the Israeli airline El Al in New York.