(Jewish Group) For first time, Olympics opening ceremony honors Israeli athletes murdered in Munich
For the first time ever, the Olympic Games held a moment of silence during the opening ceremony for the 11 Israeli athletes murdered during the Munich Olympics in 1972.
There, the Palestinian terrorist group Black September attacked members of the Israeli Olympic team, ultimately killing six coaches and five athletes, as well as a West German police officer who participated in an unsuccessful raid to free the hostage athletes.
Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, widows of two of the murdered athletes, have long advocated for the International Olympic Committee to acknowledge the massacre in the opening or closing ceremony. But the IOC has never before heeded the call, at times suggesting that honoring the Israeli athletes could be divisive.
“We must consider what this could do to other members of the delegations that are hostile to Israel,” an Israeli committee member told the BBC in 2004, when a small memorial was held at the Israeli ambassador’s house in Athens before the Olympics there.
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Normally, I wouldn't post a story like this in the Jewish Group, but I felt this event warranted an exception.
= new reply since forum marked as read
