Israel Matzav

#JustOneMinute: IOC again turns down request for opening ceremony moment of silence

The International Olympic Committee has once again turned down an Israeli request for a moment of silence in memory of the eleven Israeli athletes who were slaughtered in Munich 40 years ago at the opening ceremony of the London games on Friday.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge rejected calls for an official commemoration of the 1972 Munich Games attack during Friday's curtain raiser, a standing request of the families of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members who died.

Rogge said there would be the traditional private commemoration with the Israeli Olympic Committee and the IOC but no minute's silence at the opening of the Games.

"We are going to pay a homage as we have done in the past and will do in the future. That is what we are going to do," Rogge told reporters.

"We feel that we are able to give a very strong homage and remembrance within the sphere of the national Olympic committee," he added. "We feel that the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident."

But pausing in the middle of the opening ceremony is precisely the way to make everyone remember the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the hands of 'Palestinian' terrorists. And it is precisely why - as noted in an earlier post - the Olympic Committee members from the Organization of Islamic Countries all opposed it. There's just one problem: Israel's own representative to the IOC opposed it as well.

Rogge's comments today come after Israel's IOC member Alex Gilady told insidethegames earlier this year that he did not want to see the tragedy remembered at the Olympics.

"The unity of the Olympic movement is the most important one, and therefore, I am not supporting such a move," said Gilady, who in 1972 was a journalist covering the Olympics.

"Such an act may harm the unity of the Olympics.

What a load of crap. Unity of the Olympics? Sounds a lot like Avery Brundage saying 'the Games must go on' in 1972.

Israel's Minister of Sport, Limor Livnat, is said to be furious with Gilady.

Sports Minister Limor Livnat Monday criticized compatriot and International Olympic Committee member Alex Giladi for failing to support a call to commemorate the 11 Israelis killed in Munich in 1972.

You're the minister: Fire him!

I've seen a couple of suggestions for last minute efforts to change the verdict, none of which is likely to work. One is to flood three twitter accounts that are connected to the Olympics: @olympics, @london2012 and @iocmedia, and use the hashtag #JustOneMinute. The other is this rather innovative idea for Israel's Olympic team to stand for its own moment of silence when it enters the Olympic stadium. That would be the same moment of silence that Bob Costas plans to observe.

Labels: London Olympics, Munich Olympic massacre, Palestinian terrorism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:37 AM