The Hypocrisy Of The Refusal To Commemorate Munich Massacre At London Olympics

In her article "Jewish Blood Is Cheap", Deborah E. Lipstadt gives the real reason the Olympic Committee refuses to commemorate the Israeli athletes murdered in Munich

Why the IOC refusal? The Olympic Committee’s official explanation is that the games are apolitical. The families were repeatedly told by long-time IOC President Juan Samaranch that the Olympic movement avoided political issues. He seemed to have forgotten that at the 1996 opening ceremony he spoke about the Bosnian war. Politics were also present at the 2002 games, which opened with a minute of silence for the victims of 9/11.

The families have also been told that a commemoration of this sort was inappropriate at the opening of such a celebratory event. However, the IOC has memorialized other athletes who died “in the line of duty.” At the 2010 winter games, for example, there was a moment of silence to commemorate an athlete who died in a training accident.

The IOC’s explanation is nothing more than a pathetic excuse. The athletes who were murdered were from Israel and were Jews—that is why they aren’t being remembered. The only conclusion one can draw is that Jewish blood is cheap, too cheap to risk upsetting a bloc of Arab nations and other countries that oppose Israel and its policies.

The conclusion to be drawn, Lipstadt notes, is that Jewish blood is cheap.

That conclusion would be reinforced by what seems to be yet another reason for the Olympics committee refusal to hold a minute of silence in in honor of the athletes:Muslim countries blocked campaign to commemorate the Munich Massacre at London Olympics

An Olympics official admitted that Muslim countries blocked the "One-Minute of Silence" campaign to honor the 11 murdered Israeli athletes, one of the widows said.

Ankie Spitzer, whose husband Andre was one of the athletes massacred in the Munich Games n 1972, told the European Jewish Press that Jacques Rogge, president of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, told her that his “hands were tied” by the admission of 46 Arab and Muslim members to the International Olympic Committee.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that in the event of athletes of other countries being murdered under such circumstances, the IOC would not hesitate to commemorate what happened, even if the Muslim countries would object.

Lipstadt reminds us of a bit of Olympic history, that after the Israel athletes were murdered at the Olympics:

Competition at the games had continued until mid-afternoon that Tuesday. Only after a barrage of criticism did IOC President Avery Brundage suspend activities. Brundage, who served as president of American Olympic Committee in the 1930s, had been a great admirer of Hitler and, as late as 1971, had insisted that the Berlin games were one of the best ever.

The IOC has a history to maintain.

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