On Wednesday, two of the widows of the Israeli Olympians who were murdered in Munich in 1972 made a last-ditch effort to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to change its mind and allow a moment of silence in their memory at the London Games opening ceremony to be held tonight. But despite the tearful pleas of Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, IOC head Jacques Rogge refused to be moved.
As Britain’s JC reports, Spitzer said this of the meeting with Rogge:
“I asked him ‘is it because they were Israelis?’ and he didn’t answer.
“We were just about rolling over the table for him. We are outraged. We are so angry. We are sad. We could not believe it but he is not going to do it.
“I was looking him in the eye but he said we had two different opinions. We said ‘you didn’t hear the voice of the world.’ He said: ‘Yes I did.’”
Were he an honest man, Rogge would have admitted that the Israeli identity of the victims was the reason for his refusal. Indeed, when he says he heard the “voice of the world,” it may be he is referring to the fact that he believes — and not without reason — the world doesn’t care about spilled Jewish blood. Someone who agrees with that conclusion is Amir Mizroch, the English editor of Israel Hayom who writes (h/t Uriel Heilman at JTA) that perhaps “the IOC is doing us a favor by rejecting” requests for a moment to remember the Munich victims, because he is sure that instead of respectful silence what would follow such a request would be “a minute of deafening cacophony of hate for Israel.”
Mizroch may have a point. It is by no means unlikely that the crowd in London, not to mention even the athletes from Europe, the Third World and Muslim countries, would respond to a request for silence with jeers for the victims of Munich. Perhaps some would even take up chants in support for the terrorists who committed that atrocity.
Mizroch believes the moment of silence would be a replica of what happens at the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. He thinks a repeat of this treatment on the far more visible stage of the Olympics would discourage the people of Israel, because they would see for themselves, “just how few friends we actually have in the world.”
But Spitzer and the others who have spearheaded the drive to pressure the world to commemorate the Munich massacre on the 40th anniversary of the crime were not wrong. It may well be that Jew-hatred would bubble over on one of the world’s biggest stages had Rogge done the decent thing and asked for silence. But the proper response to this hatred on the part of self-respecting Jews as well as non-Jews is not to slink away and meekly accept this treatment.
The reason why the IOC and many of its member nations resisted the call to commemorate the Munich victims is because they know that doing so brings into disrepute the effort to stigmatize and drive Israel out of the family of nations. Were there to be a moment of silence that was disrupted by boos, Israelis certainly would feel, as Mizroch put it, disgusted by their rejection. But the losers would be the Israel-haters. Like the UN’s “Zionism is Racism” resolution and the long list of other anti-Semitic acts perpetrated throughout the last century, the ultimate result would be to discredit the cause of those who think slaughtering Jewish athletes is a form of heroism.
What the Israel-haters want is to make the Jews go away quietly and accept their ostracism. Doing so allows Israelis to avoid unpleasant confrontations, but it is no solution. As with the memory of every other act of hatred against the Jewish people, the proper response is to fight back and never let the perpetrators or their cheerleaders think they will ever live down the infamy they have earned.
"It is by no means unlikely that the crowd in London, not to mention even the athletes from Europe, the Third World and Muslim countries, would respond to a request for silence with jeers for the victims of Munich. " This is exactly what happened in French public schools during the moment of silence for Jewish children H'yd who were recently murdered for the same crime of being Jews.
I would have welcomed that. how many millions of people around the world were watching? I would like them to see the hatred that cannot help but bubble up from these people. I want the people of the world to see the jeering and spitting and throwing things and yelling vile insults. n nthis is who the anti-Israel movement is. I want the world to recognize them for what they are.
What if the world recognizes them for what they are and then still supports them? People are by no means rational.
Rogge did indeed hear the voice of the world. Israel is the most hated country on earth.
Why is Israel the most hated country on earth, even in the eyes of many Jews? n nBecause, in order to defeat the genocidal ambitions of her neighbors she has had to beat odds of 50 to 1. A relative handful of Jews have been forced to prove their mettle, and have done so spectacularly, not only as soldiers, but as farmers, artists, scientists, businessmen, mechanics, inventors, scholars. n nIsrael's survival amounts to an unmistakable defiance of the key faiths of our time. The beliefs in human equality and in democracy. She contradicts the consensus that has emerged around those two ideals since WWII, and in no small part because of WWII. n nIt is this that inflames the Third World and the Left against Israel and constitutes an entirely new form of Jew hate. n nThis new rationale must be faced and countered. Being new it needs a new answer and should not be confused with anti Semitism or Muslim rage at dhimmis challenging the Koran.
I agree with you, Nacllcan but please do not let us forget to honor that "handful" of Jews' parenting skills, too.
Rogge is a fitting heir to the legacy of the loathsome Avery Brundage.
The Olympics have a long history of being anti Jewish. Everyone remembers with pleasure that Jesse Owens caused Hitler to be annoyed, but everyone forgets that the United States Olympic Committee required Marty Glickman and other Jewish members of the United States Track Team, to withdraw so as not to anger Hitler. Glickman had been expected to win gold. Marc Spitz, in many interviews, has mentioned the many anti Jewish remarks he had to listen to from other athletes.
The Western and Muslim world is so self centered (on their anti-Antisemitism) to believe that everybody hate the Jews. I have news for U. The Chinese and Indians do not hate the Jews. They are not Muslims nor Christian or post -Christian (Secular). They know better and their relationship with the Jewish state is flourishing. Soon at the expense of the moronic West and Muslims.
"What the Israel-haters want is to make the Jews go away quietly and accept their ostracism. Doing so allows Israelis to avoid unpleasant confrontations, but it is no solution." n nVery good!
Wow, I was blind! I wanted that moment of silence for the victims of terror yet it never occured to me that it would not be silent. It never occured to me. Now it is obvious. I do not know the next steps of dealing with this insult to humanity, they are less obvious, although more of the same hate toward Jews and Zionists is likely, ahead. My sincere thank you, Jon Tobin, for laying out the obvious for me cause I had clean missed it.
I do not understand why the Israeli delegation did not simply sit in silence for one minute during there procession. Israel has to act with self respect if it is goibg to be treated with respect.