Shameful: International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge Refuses to Allow 1 Minute of Silence for Israeli Victims of the 1972 Munich Terrorist Massacre at Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics; However, NBC’s Bob Costas Will

SHAMEFUL, DISRESPECTFUL AND GUTLESS  ACT BY THE IOC …

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge reiterates that he refuses to allow a one minute moment of silence during the Opening Ceremonies of the London Summer Olympics for the Israeli victims who were killed by terrorists during the 1972 Olympics Munich massacre. Simply SHAMEFUL. On the 40th anniversary of the tragedy that saw 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists, Rogge stated that it’s not “an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident.” Really, or is it discrimination?

Like it or not Jacques, this is a lasting image of the Olympics

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge won’t budge: There will be no minute’s silence for the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich massacre at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Rogge rejected the latest calls Saturday for a special observance to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian gunmen at the Munich Games.

“We feel that the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident,” Rogge said.

The IOC has come under pressure from politicians in the United States, Israel and Germany to pay tribute to the slain Israelis during Friday’s ceremony.

The Late Great ABC’s Jim McKay … “they are all gone”

Could you be any more DISRESPECTFUL, not the right atmosphere? It is exactly the right atmosphere as a reminder of what happened 40 years ago.  Instead the IOC would rather keep their collective heads in the sand and pretend like it never happened. It is exactly the correct moment to put it on the world stage for all to see and to condemn violence, murder and terrorism. But no, instead Rogge comes up with excuses to have it remembered in other less public ways. Can you say GUTLESS! What’s the matter Jacques, are you afraid you might upset radical Islam? Or are you afraid you might upset and antagonize Muslim countries participating in the games? And if such countries would be upset over a one minute remembrance of the slaughter of athletes and coaches who were just participating in the Olympic games, what does that tell us about so-called mainstream Islam?

The IOC’s logic to all of this is if a murderous, terrorist act occurs in the woods and no one is there to see the remembrance, did it really happen? However, it would seem that all are not going to keep their heads in the sand and pretend like it never happened. NBC’s Bob Costas intends to remember the slain Israeli’s during the Opening Ceremonies and call out the IOC.

ABC News 1972 Munich massacre coverage

“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 appears to be joining the efforts of Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Ankie Spitzer, whose husband was among the Munich victims. Ayalon said the IOC refusal of his request to commemorate the victims was “unacceptable.” Spitzer, meanwhile, has been petitioning to have a moment of silence during the Opening Ceremony, to no avail.

“The IOC’s refusal is pure discrimination,” she said.

A note to the IOC, like it or not but the 1972 Olympic massacre of Israeli’s is part of your past. If you want to embrace the good of the brilliance and skill of Russian gymnast Olga Korbut (video) from the 1972 Olympics, you also have to deal with the bad. To simply ignore it does not trivialize those that were killed, it trivializes you. By pretending terrorism did not take place during the Olympics does not make it goo away, it shows your weakness and acceptance. If you pretend that it never happened, you open yourself up to it occurring again.

The moment of silence should have been done and the victims names should have been named, no different than what they do in the United States for the victims of 9-11. Since the IOC does not have the respects or guts to do so, we shall.

• Moshe Weinberg (wrestling coach)
• Yossef Romano (weightlifter)
•  Ze’ev Friedman (weightlifter)
• David Berger (weightlifter)
• Yakov Springer (weightlifting judge)
• Eliezer Halfin (wrestler)
• Yossef Gutfreund (wrestling referee)
• Kehat Shorr (shooting coach)
• Mark Slavin (wrestler)
• Andre Spitzer (fencing coach)
• Amitzur Shapira (track coach)

UPDATE I: Interestingly enough, the Olympic committee in charge of the London event has formed a special team to prepare for the contingency for the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran during the 2012 Summer Games.