Olympic Committee Rejects Minute of Silence for Murdered Israeli Olympians

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has praised President Barack Obama for his unequivocal support for the commemoration of the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected calls by Israel and international Jewish organizations to hold a minute of silence to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the slaughter.  

National Security Council spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said that, “We absolutely support the campaign for a minute of silence at the Olympics to honor the Israeli athletes killed in Munich” (Olivier Knox, ‘Obama backs Olympics moment of silence for Israelis killed at Munich Games,’ ABC News, July 19, 2012).

IOC President Jacques Rogge has been also asked to reconsider the IOC’s longstanding opposition to the memorial before the London Olympic Games open on July 27 by the Canadian and Australian parliaments, the U.S. Senate and the German Bundestag.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We praise President Obama for expressing unequivocally the Administration’s support for a commemoration involving a minute of silence at the upcoming London Olympics for the Israeli athletes who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at Munich in 1972. It is disgraceful that such a straightforward, honorable and proportionate request by Israel, Jewish organizations and the victims’ families has been refused by the IOC, to their eternal shame.”