Israel Matzav

#JustOneMinute Terror sponsor says moment of silence for terror victims would be 'racism'

The 'Palestinian Authority,' an outgrowth of the PLO, which sponsored and committed the Munich Olympic massacre 40 years ago, has sent a letter to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge praising him for his refusal to allow the eleven Israeli athletes who were murdered at Munich to be remembered.

According to Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee:

"Sports are meant for peace, not for racism... Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading of peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them [nations]."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]

But Dr. Andre Oboler writes that the IOC committed a major blunder by not acceding to the moment of silence request.

Had the call for a minutes silence remained an online issue, and had it remained an issue about Israelis, the IOC could have continued to ignore it. They have done so in the past without much difficulty. This, however, is 2012. The threat of terrorism, and efforts to mitigate that threat, permeate the games. The threat of terrorism, and the erosion of fundamental rights through anti-terror measures around the world, is a topic of public interest and conversation. Enough time has passed since September 11 for the world to again begin thinking about the balance between security and the cost it imposes on our daily lives.

The response to terrorism is something Israel began dealing with a long time ago. The world has changed and today more than ever people around the globe acknowledge the loss of terror victims and the suffering of their families. This is increasingly done without regard for nationality. The IOC’s mistake was thinking the minutes silence was about placating Israelis and the families of the victims. Whatever the wishes of the victims’ families, the campaign gained worldwide support for its own reasons and on its own merits. It spoke to people, and they connected with it and shared it.

The 1972 terrorist attack was not an attack on Israelis as much as it was an attack on the Olympics itself. The decision to ban Apartheid South Africa from the games all those decades ago shows that the Olympics is not entirely free of world politics, it is just very cautious and only acts in line with world consensus. That’s where the IOC went wrong; in this matter there is a consensus and the IOC is trying to ignore it.

Today’s global consensus is actively against terror. In the face of terror, be it a natural disaster or the politically motivated terror human kind invents for itself, people around the world stand together as one. Social media plays a role as the world becomes ever more connected. The IOC’s failure to incorporate a minutes silence into the opening of the games appears as a failure of leadership; a failure to stand with the people of the world and speak out against our greatest fear.

The timing too is significant. Let us for a moment recall that the Olympics only occur every four years. This is therefore the tenth games since the terrorists attacked. There will be no fiftieth anniversary at the 2022 Olympic Games. Indeed, due to the Olympic schedule there will be no 2022 Games. In this context, the failure by the International Olympic Committee to very publicly acknowledge that the games too have been a victim of terror, is akin to an American President refusing to commemorate September 11 on a major anniversary of that tragic event. It is indeed incomprehensible.

The 'Palestinians,' on the other hand, commemorate the Olympic massacre regularly. They have called the massacre's planners 'a star who sparkled,' a shahid (martyr), and have said that 'his star shined in Munich.' The 'Palestinian Authority' - time and time again - has glorified the terrorists who planned and carried out the Munich Olympic Massacre. But that shouldn't surprise anyone. The financier of the Munich Olympic Massacre is now the President of the 'Palestinian Authority.'

The IOC has a clear moral choice to make tomorrow - to stand with the terrorists of the 'Palestinian Authority' or to be true to the Olympic Games and their participants. Given the IOC's past history, the odds of them making the right choice are not too promising.

Labels: Abu Mazen, London Olympics, Munich Olympic massacre, Palestinian terrorism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:11 PM