Olympics of appeasement

The IOC must allow a moment of silence for the victims of 1972 Munich massacre.

By LARRY DOMNITCH
The 11 Israeli athletes killed in 1972 Munich attack 370 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS / Handout)
The 11 Israeli athletes killed in 1972 Munich attack 370 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS / Handout)
A few days ago it was announced that Jeremy Hunt, Great Britain’s secretary of state for culture, media and sport, will not join the international campaign for a moment of silence for the eleven Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
There have been calls for a moment of silence from around the world, including numerous governments. Fifty members of the British Parliament, the German Bundestag, one hundred and forty members of the Italian Parliament, about one hundred Australian members of Parliament including the prime minister and the opposition leader, the Canadian parliament, and the US Senate have unanimously passed resolutions calling for a moment of silence.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) remains determined to uphold its decision not to hold a moment of silence at the 2012 Olympic Games.
This is about much more than a moment of silence. The murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at an event that is supposed to represent spirited global competition, must never be forgotten.   
Ankie Spitzer, the widow of murdered fencer Andrei Spitzer, had been reluctant to accuse the IOC of any wrongdoing, but following its most recent refusals to grant a moment of silence, she has leveled a charge of discrimination.
Spitzer noted that two years ago before the Vancouver Winter Olympics, when luge track slider Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a training accident, there was a moment of silence at the opening of the Olympic Games, as well as speeches and condolences. “What’s the problem?” Spitzer asked the London Jewish Chronicle. Is it because the Munich athletes were Israelis and Jews? I can only come to that conclusion.” Ms. Spitzer also stated that for many years, the IOC has told her that the Arab nations would object to a memorial event.
In 1936, world athletes went to Berlin to compete in the Olympics while the Nazis used the games as window dressing to hide the persecutions already taking place in Nazi Germany since its rise in 1933. At the time, all of the reasons in favor of participation in the Berlin Olympics played into the hands of the Nazi propaganda machine. The greatest motivation for participation was wishful thinking; feigning global unity while Nazi Germany was already a house of horrors. Ultimately, the world’s unwillingness to stand up to Nazi Germany during the 1930’s had enormous costs.
The unwillingness to pay homage to the victims of the Munich massacre shows that the lessons from the past are already being forgotten. This is symptomatic of the times in which we are living. Silence in the face of hate.
Today, French Jews are living in daily fear of physical assault from Islamists. In Norway and Sweden, anti-Israel activities proliferate. Great Britain has also become a hot bed of Islamic activity. Recent radical Islamic revolutions in the wake of the "Arab Spring" threaten the stability of the Middle East where nations are now under radical Islamist rule. Egypt’s new leader rails against Israel before jeering crowds. Leaders of the Iranian regime level the most outrageous accusations against the Jews. Missiles rain upon Israeli cities from Gaza launched by Palestinian terrorists from the territory which Israel withdrew from seven years ago.
In the aftermath of the 1972 Olympic tragedy world leaders and the press expressed outrage. Forty years later, the silence is deafening. Jewish hatred in Europe is steadily on the rise and much of the world is as silent as it was in the 1930s. At the Olympic Games there is fear of offending the very perpetrators of hate. There is a spirit of appeasement in the air.
In 1936, the nations of the world sent their athletes to Berlin with the hope that there was still some unity or room for reconciliation. Meanwhile, Hitler was busy plotting and planning against his guests’ host nations. In 1972, the Olympic Games returned to Germany, this time Munich, where Arab enemies of the Jews murdered eleven Israeli athletes. In 2012, let’s hope the IOC reverses its decision and sends a clear message to the world.
The writer is an educator and the author of The Cantonists: The Jewish Children´s Army of the Tsar.