No 1972 Remembrance

From BBC:
"London 2012: Silence for Munich Olympic victims rejected"

Calls for the victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre to be remembered with a minute's silence at the opening of the London 2012 Games have been rebuffed by the organisers.  Ankie Spitzer has campaigned unsuccessfully for the act of remembrance since the atrocity. Her husband - fencing coach Andre Spitzer - was one of 11 Israeli athletes and trainers killed when the Palestinian "Black September" organisation attacked apartments in the Olympic village and took them hostage in what was the darkest chapter in Olympic history. The world looked on in horror as friendly competition was replaced by killing and bloodshed.  Many of those who died, including a West German police officer, were killed in a botched rescue effort.  Five Palestinian hostage takers were killed. Others were tracked down and subsequently killed by Israeli intelligence forces over the following years. A spokesman for London 2012 said in a statement that tributes would be paid to the victims at a separate ceremony at London's Guildhall in what was a joint initiative between the Israeli Embassy, the country's Olympic Committee and the Jewish Community. "They were not accidental tourists" she said. "They were part of the Olympic family and they should be remembered within the framework of the Olympics." An online petition supporting her initiative has gained 83,000 signatures worldwide. Ankie Spitzer's campaign has drawn attention to those terrible events 40 years ago but it is also a reminder of the security threats facing London 2012 and the veneer which masks the world's real conflicts when athletes take to the track.

^ It shouldn't be surprising that the IOC is doing nothing official at the Games to remember the athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics since they (the IOC) did nothing to remember them when it happened 40 years ago. It seems that the IOC - then and now - don't care that Israeli athletes were murdered. Mrs. Spitzer is right that something official should be done since they were part of the Games. At least Israel was able to get revenge and hunt down and kill those responsible while the IOC, West Germany and the world watched. ^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18640141