Not One Moment to Remember Munich

Jonathan S. Tobin
Commentary Magazine
7/22/2012

In spite of the growing calls for a moment of silence in honor of the 11 Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the head of the International Olympic Committee said yesterday that he would not alter his determination to refuse to allow the issue to intrude upon the opening ceremonies of the London Games this Friday. Jacques Rogge said yesterday that it “was not fit” for a commemoration of Munich to be included in the gala start to the global athletic extravaganza.

This week, President Obama added his voice to those already calling for a moment of silence at the ceremony. Perhaps even more importantly, Bob Costas, NBC television’s Olympic host, has said that he will impose his own moment of silence on the coverage of the event when the Israeli team enters the stadium:

“I intend to note that the IOC denied the request,” Costas said. “Many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive. Here’s a minute of silence right now.”

Costas deserves great deal of credit for not allowing the IOC’s desire to keep the memory of Munich out of sight during the games (Rogge said he will attend a ceremony honoring the Munich victims in Germany next week). But while he finds the refusal to simply devote one minute to remembrance “puzzling,” there is no mystery about it. Rogge has called requests for such a memorial “political.” While there is nothing political about recalling the terrorist attack, by that he means that many of the participating nations are not comfortable highlighting a crime committed by Palestinians or honoring the memory of Israeli Jews. As historian Deborah Lipstadt wrote this past week, the controversy is more proof that in the eyes of the world, spilled Jewish blood remains a cheap commodity…

The article continues at Commentary Magazine

H/T American Power where there is more to read.

Also, Bob Costas, class act Bob Costas stands up for Munich victims

Update:   A Minute of Silence for the Victims of Munich, at Winds of Jihad:

…No one can ever forget Munich. Munich. It was, at once, the end of Western innocence and the beginning of the West’s surrender in installments to Islam, ushering into the twentieth century the modern age of Islamic terrorism.

It was at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and murdered in cold blood by Yaser Arafat’s group, Black September. The jihadists killed eleven Israeli athletes and coaches and a West German police officer. The surviving assassins were captured, but released three months later by West Germany following the hijacking by Black September of a Lufthansa airliner. Released.

Thus began the rewarding of savagery and Islamic barbarism, ushering in the era and sanction of modern terror. And it has never been so prevalent and evil as it is today…

…Muslims, in refusing to allow a moment of silence for the Munich dead, prove once again that murder and mayhem in the cause of Islam is not fringe, extreme, or radical, but Islamic. And the IOC, in submitting to this bloody totalitarian ideology, sanctions their war on the West…

Israel is the only country listed that has no capital according to the BBC. Yet they bestow the honour of having East Jerusalem as a capital on the country of ‘Palestine’.

Read the whole thing.

Update 2BBC Gives Jerusalem to the Arabs

The BBC, ever mindful of British obligations to their swelling Muslim population, decided on its BBC Sport website to name the capital of every country participating in the London Olympic games except one: Israel. Even more incredibly, the site listed Palestine as a country and named its capital as East Jerusalem. But for Israel, a capital wasn’t even listed.

Israel’s government, angered by the omission, responded with a letter by Mark Regev, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman, to Paul Danahar, the Middle East bureau chief of the BBC…

 

Update 3: Romney backs Olympics moment of silence to honor Munich victims

Update 4Israel Rejects BBC Change to Olympics Listing

In a letter to a BBC viewer who complained about the network’s omission of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on a list of countries scheduled to participate in this summer’s Olympic games, the British broadcaster says it chose to amend their list, in part, due to “online lobby activity”.

After listing Palestine’s capital as East Jerusalem, and leaving blank the space where Israel’s capital was supposed to be placed, the BBC changed their list to note Jerusalem as Israel’s “seat of government”, while informing readers that Tel Aviv is where most embassies operating inside Israel are located…

 

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