Israel marks 40th anniversary of Munich massacre in London
Complaining that the Olympic movement is still ignoring
their pain, Israelis marked the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre on
Sunday with a modest service in the atrium of a London apartment block.
Prayers were read for the 11 murdered Israelis, wreaths
were laid for them and a plaque unveiled about four miles (six kilometers) from
the Olympic Stadium.
However, there will be no minute of silence for them at
Friday's opening ceremony.
"The International Olympic Committee have a moral
commitment to commemorate the 11 athletes, coaches and referees," Israeli
Olympic Committee secretary general Efraim Zinger said. "Not because they
were Israelis, but because they were Olympians and were murdered during the
Olympic Games.
"It's been 40 years since that dreadful day and I
hope that the day will come that the IOC will recognize all 11 athletes as
victims and find the proper way to commemorate their memory."
IOC President Jacques Rogge reiterated Saturday that the
opening ceremony was not an appropriate arena to remember the dead despite
pressure from politicians in the United States, Israel and Germany.
In talks over several years with Israeli officials, the
IOC has not been able to agree to a suitable way of remembering the slain
athletes at each game, according to Zinger.
"The frustrating fact is that until now, none of the
alternative ways to commemorate was practiced," Zinger said.
Rogge does plan to honor the dead at a reception in
London during the games on Aug. 6. IOC officials will also attend a ceremony in
Germany on the anniversary of the attack on Sept. 5 at the military airfield of
Furstenfeldbruck, where most of the Israelis died.
The tranquility of the Munich Games was shattered in the
second week when eight members of the Black September militant group penetrated
the laxly secured Olympic Village and took Israeli team members hostage. A day
later, all 11 were dead.
Ben Helfgott, who was at the 1972 Olympics, said at
Sunday's commemorations that the memorial service immediately after the
massacre was "trivialized" because the murders of the competitors was
equated with the deaths of the terrorists.
In front of a tightly packed audience featuring a
relative of one victim, London Mayor Boris Johnson recalled watching the events
unfold as an 8-year-old child in England.
"What sticks in my mind is that sense of sacrilege
and a feeling of horror that the world's greatest sporting event should suffer
such an attack, and that an attack should be mounted against people who had
been training for what should have been the greatest event in their
lives," Johnson said. "And I think the world watched with a sense of
numb disbelief as those events unfolded because sport should transcend
politics.
"It should bring out the best in the human race. It
should draw people together in admiration for achievement and for effort. And yet
some people chose to profane that great celebration and to cut short the lives
of 11 innocent (people)."
Johnson said he hoped the Olympics, which run until Aug.
12, are only remembered for sporting endeavors and that athletes of all faiths
are able to "unite in a city that unites the world."
But the games are starting against a backdrop of security
fears surrounding the Israeli delegation, featuring 38 athletes.
Israel is on the alert for plots targeting its citizens
overseas after five Israelis vacationing in Bulgaria were killed in a suicide
bombing last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
"Unfortunately we are part of a very distinguished
list of countries" whose teams are susceptible to attack, Zinger said.
"We have to live with it."
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