Jibril Rajoub, chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, on Thursday called for Israel to be expelled from all international Olympic unions and committees until it “honors international agreements.”Putting aside that Israel's rights to the West Bank are guaranteed by International Law, Rajoub's interest in law seems to be somewhat limited:
Rajoub said that he was personally prepared to lead the anti-Israel campaign, but only if he received help from the Arab countries.
Rajoub, who spent 17 years in Israeli prison, founded and headed the much-feared Preventive Security Service in the West Bank immediately after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.Actually, Rajoub was in and out of Israeli prison for various terrorist attacks, but since any Palestinian Arab statement can be made with impunity--without fear of challenge by the media or anyone else--Rajoub's claim comes across as almost mild.
Since the Olympic Committee is clearly not going to do anything about to commemorate the Munich Massacre, Rajoub has nothing to lose--and who knows what the Olympic Committee might be cajoled into doing down the line.
Just look at UNESCO.
Technorati Tag: Israel and Olympics.
1 comment:
In so many ways, the IOC facilitated the terrible events in Munich in 1972, and their hideous insensitivity is eclipsed by the refusal to commemorate the massacre. Many mistakes were made vis-a-vis the '72 Olympics, and the Black September day was the result of too many oversights, but the IOC remains the only party that refuses to take any responsibility.
Politics really don't belong in the Olympics as all, but this expectation is not practical, since countries compete under waving flags. It would be heartening to see the IOC take a stand, honor the grave mistakes that led to a horrendous loss of life and integrity at Munich, and revitalize the spirit of the Olympics by saying definitively that they abhor the fact that the Games were used as a political pawn, that athletes, whose dreams were merely to compete safely in an international arena, were sacrificed precisely because the IOC had taken no such stand.
So long as they refuse to do so, there is always the chance tragedy will revisit the Olympic Games.
Carla Stockton
Munich Memoir: Dan Alon's Untold Story of Survival
by Dan Alon, as told to Carla Stockton
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