This Friday in London, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will get underway with all the usual pageantry and grand references to the history of this most famous and ancient of athletic competitions.
One chapter of Olympics history that the International Olympic Committee has ensured will not be mentioned during the opening ceremonies is the Munich Massacre -- the brutal terrorist murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games. For 40 years Olympic officials have ignored or rebuffed efforts to memorialize this horrific event.
We can't allow the Olympics to be "politicized," IOC officials have said over and over again. But in what way is Olympians commemorating fellow slain athletes who were murdered at the Olympics a political gesture?
It is long past time to debate these points.
At a memorial service held on September 6, 1972 at the Munich Olympic Stadium, then-IOC President Avery Brundage famously said, "The games must go on." Since 1972, IOC officials have continued to justify their refusal to commemorate the Munich Massacre as a principled stance against the politicization of the games.
And yet this "principle" seemingly did not apply to the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, which rightfully included numerous references and tributes to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
When catastrophe struck the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games with the tragic death of Georgian luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili during a practice run, the IOC appropriately honored his memory during the opening ceremonies with a moment of silence and by flying the Georgian and Olympic flags at half-staff, undoubtedly a fitting tribute to a lost Olympian.
In 1973, Ankie Spitzer, the wife of murdered Israel fencing coach, Andrei Spitzer, wrote the IOC respectfully requesting that the Munich 11 be remembered at the upcoming Montreal Olympics. She never received a reply. Since then, Ms. Spitzer and other victim's families have continued to write, calling for an official recognition and moment of silence to remember. Yet, from Montreal, Moscow, Los Angeles and Seoul, to Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing, the only commemorations organized have been done so by the Israeli Olympic Committee and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
The IOC's failure to commemorate the Munich Massacre on this 40th anniversary would be hypocrisy and politicization enough just looking at these double-standard examples. But the hypocrisy is hugely magnified by virtue of the fact that the Munich terrorist event was by far the greatest assault ever on the Olympics themselves. The cold-blooded murder of Olympians at the hands of Palestinian terrorists completely undermined the competitive spirit of the Olympics, and one would think that the organizers, without prodding, would have long ago seen the need to commemorate this unique event, upholding the deep integrity of the games.
In recent months, the chorus of those calling for the Munich 11 to be properly memorialized has grown louder. Various influential leaders and governments -- including President Barack Obama, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, legendary sports broadcaster Bob Costas, the U.S. Senate,Germany, Canada and Australia -- have all come out in support of a moment of silence, and more than 100,000 people around the world have signed petitions in support of this effort.
While IOC officials have attended Israeli-organized memorial events over the past decades and have pledged to send high-level delegations to an August 6 event in London and September 5 event in Munich, they can no longer hide behind their refusal to memorialize the Munich Massacre during the opening ceremonies as a principled stance against politics.
It is, in fact, just the opposite. It is an act of common human decency, not politics, to take a moment to commemorate those who died as Olympic athletes.
This past Monday, perhaps due to growing pressure, IOC President Jacques Rogge did hold a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes at the Olympic Village. Yet only about 100 people were in attendance, and no advance notice was given. Rogge explained that "It's absolutely normal I should call for a remembrance of the Israeli athletes." This is indeed true, though Rogge got the venue very, very wrong. The time has come for the IOC to right their 40 years of indifference to the victims of the Munich Massacre, and properly honor their memory with a moment of silence during Friday's opening Olympic ceremonies.
If not, the truth will be plainly obvious -- the IOC doesn't want to honor the memory of the dead athletes because they had the "misfortune" of not being French, Swiss or Georgian; they were Israelis, and therefore are being held to a different standard.
We fervently hope to be proven wrong.
Dovid Efune: Minute's Silence Campaign Should Be Directed at Olympic Sponsors
| 1 | United States | 46 | 29 | 29 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 27 | 23 |
| 3 | Russia | 24 | 26 | 32 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 29 | 17 | 19 |
| 5 | Germany | 11 | 19 | 14 |
| 6 | Japan | 7 | 14 | 17 |
http://www.britishforcesinpalestine.org/attacks.html
(Yes, it's Fox News. Get over it)
"In 1996, I, along with other Munich orphans and three of the widows, were invited for the first time to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Before the Opening Ceremony, we met with Alex Gilady. Gilady has been a member of the IOC's Radio and Television Commission since 1984 and has been the senior vice president of NBC Sports since 1996.
Gilady informed us that a moment of silence was not possible because if the IOC had a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes, they would also have to do the same for the Palestinians who died at the Olympics in 1972.
My mother said, "But no Palestinian athletes died."
Gilady responded, "Well, there were Palestinians who died at the 1972 Olympics."
I heard one of the widows say to Gilady, "Are you equating the murder of my husband to the terrorists that killed him?"
Silence.
Then Ilana Romano burst out with a cry that has haunted me to this day. She screamed at Gilady, "How DARE you! You KNOW what they did to my husband! They let him lay there for hours, dying slowly, and then finished him off by castrating him and shoving it in his mouth, ALEX!"
I looked at Gilady's face as he sat there, stone cold with no emotion. This man knew these athletes personally.
Gilady excused himself from our meeting. "
Can't wait!
>the arabb countries banded together and posed thretts of boycotting the olympics if the IOC recognized the israeli athletes. fact.
>there is one iranian athlete that might compete against an israeli….javad mahjoob, but hours before leaving for london, they announced javad couldn't attend….he had 'digestive problems' and 'couldn't fly on antibiotics'. in 2011 mahjoob himself acknowledged that he threw a match against a german opponent saying 'if i won i would have had to compete with an israeli. if i refused to compete with an israeli, they would have suspended our judo federation for 4 years'.
>the arrabbs argue that 'sports aremenat for peace, not r@cism'…..yet where was this sentiment when the arabbs led by abasss decided to bru-tallly mrdir 11 israeli athletes….calling it 'the munich *operation*….rather than what it really was….
>the palis then went on to praise and honor those who carried out the *operation*….
they have taught all of ya well…..as ya mimick the sentiments of the ex-treme-ists who actually planned and then carried out this sickk h@tful des-pic-a-ble act…..and now ya wanna sweep it under the carpet, so as not to remind people of who did this and why.
p.a.t.h.e.t.i.c. truly and absolutley p.a.t.h.e.t.i.c.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/07/26/the-olympics-and-the-peace-process-munich-massacre-moment-of-silence/
During a memorial service 1972, the Olympic Flag was flown at half-staff, along with the flags of most of the other competing nations at the request of Willy Brandt.Ten Arab nations objected to their flags being lowered to honor murdered Israelis; their flags were restored to the tops of their flagpoles almost immediately.
The IOC now say they are worried that the Arab delegations will get up and leave.
Ever since this massacre the IOC has acquiesced to the Arab concerns. Although the IOC participates in remembrance services organised by others, it has yet to arrange its own memorial. It's the IOC who has politicized this issue.
If that's what they decide to do, then good riddance!
He also said that “the [Munich] operation had the endorsement of Arafat,” although Arafat was not involved in conceiving or implementing the attack. In his autobiography, Daoud writes that Arafat saw the team off on the mission with the words “God protect you".
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2012/07/munich-widow-ioc-head-said-arabmuslim.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/news/2002/08/20/sb2/
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2012/07/pa-olympic-committee-calls-moment-of.html
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=279048
and that's just for starters.
There are plenty of tragedies and deaths and killings every day. Trying to convince the world that these lives lost are more important than the lives of their own citizens is the issue. We would like to see how enthusiastic Israel would be about honoring victims in Rwanda or Congo or Peru.
that statement of ures is totally hippa-criti-cle seeing as the IOC has in fact, had moments of silence for many victimz of terrirism….including the vicitimz of 9-11…..who, btw, were also victimz of is.la.m.ic. ex-tre-mists.
so why only a problem with remembering the jewz…..
cause no one want to upset the appleCart of the current and ongoing plaisProp-a-gan-dda….of the pooor poooorPalis who neeed sym-pathy.
i callBS.
The controversy about the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to observe a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Munich massacre has taught us a lot about what is wrong with both the Olympic movement and the way the international community thinks about Israel. It bears repeating that were the athletes of any other country to be murdered the way the 11 Israelis were slain at Munich in 1972, remembrance would have become a permanent feature of opening ceremonies of the games. But doing so for these victims is deemed a political intrusion into the joy of the sports extravaganza. But lest anyone forget why this is so, the Palestinian Authority gave us a sharp reminder not only of the motivation of the Black September terrorists who committed this crime but of why the peace process is dead in the water.
Read it all:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/07/26/the-olympics-and-the-peace-process-munich-massacre-moment-of-silence/
Of course in modern times it was considered more practical to postpone the Olympics until WWI and WWII each were over.
But bringing your war to the Olympics is and always was beyond the pale. In 1972, Countries, not always friendly, from all over the world sent teams to compete, in the Spirit of the Olympics.
The Palestinians sent a team of murders.
They may have considered it a clelver political coup, but it was just plain cowardly murder.
How, if Israel got its way, how would you silence a plethora of cows, sheep, goats, pigs etc.?
why, particularly, is now the time?
Foxman doesn't explain that point and his conclusion to this little essay really bites it.
because in spite of the IOC saying they want to 'stay away from politics'…politics is exactly the reason they won't give, more specifically a threatt of boycott of the olympics by all arabb countries. (http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/07/24/olympic-committee-vp-fear-of-arab-boycott-led-to-minute-of-silence-rejection/) ...and let us not forget, that abasss was behind munich…that is no secret, it has been well documented.
If I was the IOC, I would tell Foxman to take his pressure, his "do what I tell you or you're a bigot" and tell him to suck eggs.
Period. End of discussion.
speaks volumes….