Israel Olympic officials upset over lack of tribute

[shira]

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli officials fumed Thursday after failing to persuade the IOC to hold a special tribute at the London Olympic opening ceremony to the 11 Israeli team members killed after being taken hostage by Palestinian gunmen at the 1972 Munich Games. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon had asked the International Olympic Committee to open this year's games with a minute's silence honoring the slain Israeli athletes and coaches on the 40th anniversary of the massacre.

In a written response to Ayalon, IOC President Jacques Rogge said he would personally attend the Israeli delegation's traditional tribute to the victims in London. He also pointed out that the IOC has officially paid tribute to the victims' memory before, but did not specifically address the request of a minute's silence.

....

Ayalon called the response unacceptable because it "rejects the central principles of global fraternity on which the Olympic ideal is supposed to rest."

The massacre was not just an assault on the Israeli team, but also "an attack on the Olympic Games and the international community," he said. "Thus it is necessary for the Olympic Games as a whole to commemorate this event in the open rather than only in a side event."

more...
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/story/2012-05-17/israeli-olympic-officials-mad-ioc-decision/55041544/1

[Scurrilous]

1. IOC do the right thing?

ROFL

[holdencaufield]

2. Interesting you would find slain Israeli athletes as laugh-worthy. NT

[Alamuti Lotus]

3. I believe that laugh was directed at the IOC

they are notoriously unskilled at 'doing the right thing' in virtually any application; slain Israeli athletes are entirely unrelated to that response...........but, finally I will award points for effort. Low, slimy, cheap effort; but points awarded all the same.

[holdencaufield]

4. Praise from the master. NT

[Violet_Crumble]

5. That's an incredibly ugly and untrue thing for you to say.

Seriously. I can't believe anyone at DU would actually believe that any regular participant in this group would think something like that. So I do believe after seeing you try similar things with me and another person in this group, that yr doing this on purpose. There was someone posting here a few months ago who accused two regulars of hating Arabs. The hosts blocked them from the group. I think what you said to Scurrilous is very similar and should be treated the same way...

[King_David]

6. I do not think your right.

I do not believe Scurrilous meant anything like what was perceived,but taken alone it is not difficult to see how post number one could of been misunderstood.

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Only someone with reading comprehension issues would struggle to misunderstand the post...

Or those who have a habit of deliberately accusing other DUers of having said things they didn't, which is what that poster has done in the past, and will do again. Making accusations at pro-Israeli DUers that they hate Arabs is not acceptable, and throwing accusations at pro-Palestinians that they think murdered Israelis is a laughing matter should also not be acceptable...

[King_David]

10. I prefer to think it was just an honest misunderstanding.

And he apologized too.

[LeftishBrit]

12. I think that this was a bitter laugh about the whole concept of the IOC doing the right thing

[holdencaufield]

7. If your ROFL was not intended towards...

the concept of a tribute to the slain athletes or in fact the athletes themselves, then my most sincere apologies.

However, I hope you can see that given the subject of the thread is the rejection of just such a tribute how I came to that assumption.

Mea culpa

[shira]

9. Why Does Only Israel Want a Munich Moment?

This should not be a solely Israeli issue. Among the birthplaces of the eleven Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists affiliated with Fatah are Poland (wrestler Yakov Springer participated in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising), Libya, Latvia, Romania, Belarus, and, yes, the United States—Cleveland, to be exact. A German police officer was killed (as were five Palestinian terrorists). Jewish American athletes feared for their lives and had to be ferried out of the country; Mark Spitz was not permitted to stick around to celebrate the record seven gold medals he won. The Olympic governing bodies of all of those countries—including the U.S. Olympic Committee—ought to be demanding official recognition, as should those countries’ governments.

And, for good measure, so should every other country. The Munich 11 were targeted because they were Israelis and Jews, but anybody who thinks the massacre was only an assault on Israel and Jews does not understand—well, does not understand the Olympic spirit, which is dedicated “to building a peaceful and better world … through sport practiced without discrimination.”

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/100027/why-has-only-israel-requested-a-moment-of-silence?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-has-only-israel-requested-a-moment-of-silence

[zellie]

19. After the infamous 7/7

the UK knows that risk of another terrorist attack is very high.

I hope not but I think , given the high profile event, that there will an attempt.

[Scurrilous]

11. US Senate urges Munich Olympic moment of silence

<snip>

"The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging the International Olympic Committee to observe a moment of silence at the 2012 London Olympics for the Munich 11.

The Senate resolution, which passed Monday, is part of a larger global effort calling on the IOC to honor the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were murdered at the 1972 Games in Munich by members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the measure.

A similar resolution introduced in the US House of Representatives by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) was passed unanimously by the House Foreign Affairs Committee but has not been brought to the House floor."

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=275335

[LeftishBrit]

14. Of course there should be such a tribute...

but the IOC are unlikely to give it. The true Olympic spirit died long before Munich, and it's long been basically a commercial event with a dash of politics.

[shaayecanaan]

16. There was a moment of silence in 1996

that was dedicated to the victims at Munich as well as the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park bombing:-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/olympics/daily/aug/05/close5.htm

As I understand it, the dispute is regarding the format of the tribute rather than whether there should be one. Apparently the Israelis wanted a minute (not just a moment) of silence dedicated to them solely, rather than one also paying tribute to other victims of terror at the Olympics. The demand is also that it be held during the opening ceremony rather than the closing ceremony or some other ceremony.

I suppose the IOC is also cognisant that the Israelis will want the tribute repeated at regular intervals (60 years, 80 years, etc).

I concede that the IOC aren't very principled at the best of times but it may be a case of escalating demands on the part of the Israelis that can never be satisfied.

I would support a moment of silence, and obviously there should be one, but perhaps it should be on the basis that the matter is thereby resolved, and that the Israelis won't be demanding further tributes at each subsequent games thereafter.

[azurnoir]

20. ah so a moment of silence wasn't good enough I see

well I would go with this full minute of silence at the opening ceremonies, however whether or not this will be the resolution of the matter is yet to be seen

[LeftishBrit]

13. Here is a very interesting article about Anke Spitzer, the widow of one of the murdered athletes

and one of those asking for a tribute:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/26/munich-olympics-massacre-fight-for-remembrance?newsfeed=true

[Scurrilous]

15. German FM calls for minute of silence for Israeli athletes killed on his territory

Guido Westerwelle joins the ranks of politicians pressuring Olympic Committee to commemorate 1972 Munich massacre

<snip>

"The massacre happened on his home turf, and now the German Foreign Minister has added his name to a growing list of leading politicians demanding a minute of silence during the upcoming Olympics in London to remember the Israelis killed during the 1972 Games.

“Forty years ago, 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich,” Guido Westerwelle wrote in a letter to Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), on Tuesday. “This tragic terrorist attack in my country was directed not only at the Israeli Olympic team. It was also an attack on the Olympic Games and the Olympic idea of promoting peace and friendship among the nations.”

The German foreign minister says he recognized that the IOC has not forgotten the victims of the attack, perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists, and that the focus of the London Olympics must be the sports competition in the arena. Yet he appealed to Rogge for “a moment’s pause at an appropriate time” during the Games, which start on July 27, 40 years after Munich. A minute of silence would be “a humanitarian gesture and a fitting way to send the message that violence and terror are incompatible with the Olympic idea,” Westerwelle wrote.

So far, the IOC has steadfastly rejected the proposal."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/german-fm-calls-for-minute-of-silence-for-israeli-athletes-killed-on-his-territory/

[King_David]

17. Kick

[shira]

18. Costas to ‘call out’ IOC over Munich

NBC’s Bob Costas says he will use the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics to “call out” the International Olympic Committee for its refusal to declare a moment of silence to honor Israeli athletes who were murdered at the Munich games 40 years ago.

Costas, who will be the lead announcer for the London Games, told the Hollywood Reporter that the IOC’s refusal to honor a request by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon is “baffling” and he intends to take a stand during the Opening Ceremonies on July 27.

Said Costas:

“I intend to note that the IOC denied the request. Many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive. Here’s a minute of silence right now.”

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-georgia-sports/2012/07/20/costas-to-call-out-ioc-over-munich/

[Scurrilous]

21. Rogge again rules out minute silence for Israelis

<snip>

"IOC President Jacques Rogge won't budge: There will be no minute's silence for the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich massacre at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Rogge rejected the latest calls Saturday for a special observance to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian gunmen at the Munich Games.

"We feel that the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident," Rogge said.

The International Olympic Committee has come under pressure from politicians in the United States, Israel and Germany to pay tribute to the slain Israelis during Friday's ceremony.

Rogge said the IOC will honor them at a reception in London during the games on Aug. 6. He said IOC officials will also attend a ceremony in Germany on the anniversary of the attack on Sept. 5 at the military airfield of Furstenfeldbruck where most of the Israelis died."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/2012/07/21/munich-1972-jacques-rogge-ioc.ap/index.html#ixzz21Iw9C21R

[zellie]

22. Careful what you decide , Jacques

the olympics arent over yet.