The IOC’s decision not to honour the Israeli athletes slain by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich games in 1972 with a minute of silence has been broadly condemned.
The Toronto Star tackled the issue in an editorial today entitled “Olympic movement should finally honour athletes murdered in Munich”.
On the CBC radio show “As It Happens” yesterday, former Olympian Karen James stated the IOC should observe a minute of silence for the 11 Israeli athletes killed 40 years ago.
And Luciano de Negro, Vice President (Quebec) of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), called for a moment of silence in an editorial in the Montreal Gazette, noting that the IOC has failed the international community by its refusal to appropriately commemorate the Munich Massacre. CIJA will be holding a commemoration today at 4:30 today at 1 Cummings Square in Montreal.
And the Palestinian Authority? The Palestinian Authority is against the moment of silence at the Olympics to commemorate the Israeli athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
According to the headline in the official PA daily, "Sports are meant for peace, not for racism." A letter sent by Rajoub to the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, made available by Palestinian Media Watch "expressed appreciation for [Rogge’s] position, who opposed the Israeli position, which demanded a moment’s silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London."
As noted by Palestinian Media Watch, the PA daily does not refer to the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 as terror. In the article about Rajoub’s letter, the killing of the athletes is referred to as "the Munich Operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972."
The PA is against the moment of silence because they view the murder of Israelis by Palestinians not as terror but as heroism.
