Thursday, August 16, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
By Forest Rain
At the Munich Olympics
of 1972, less than three decades after the Holocaust, Jews were murdered on
German soil – because they were Jews. Because they were Israelis.
The Olympics has
historically been a place of peace where even warring nations could come
together and compete in the sports arena, rather than on the battlefield. On
September 5th, 1972 that changed with the first ever international terrorism
spectacle that unfolded on live tv as frightened people around the world
watched.
PLO Black September
terrorists broke into the Olympic Compound, taking 11 Israeli athletes hostage.
During the 22 hour standoff the hostages were beaten. Champion weightlifter
Yossef Romano who had tried to fight off the terrorists and save his friends,
was shot, castrated and left to bleed to death in front of the other, helpless,
hostages.
The German authorities
failed to rescue the hostages and, in the end, came the words of Jim McKay, the
anchor for ABC’s Olympics Coverage:
“When I was a kid my
father used to say ‘Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom
realized.’ Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there
were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were
killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone.”
Repeated attempts to
give the athletes the recognition they are due have fallen on deaf ears. In
2012, in honor of the 40th anniversary of this tragic event, organizations,
communities, families from around the world sought recognition of this event by
requesting that the International Olympic Committee approve 1 minute of silence
in their memory at the opening ceremony of the 2012 games. The request was
denied.
That’s why the Israel
Forever Foundation created the Munich Memory Project.
It cannot be that this
picture has become iconic
While the faces and
names of these men are forgotten:
It is up to us to make
sure this event is not swept under the carpet of history.
When UK’s Labour
leader Jeremy Corbyn honors terrorists that committed
this atrocity saying “he was present but not involved at a wreath-laying”, it
is not up to us to change Mr. Corbyn. At the same time, it is up to us to
question what is happening in the UK that enables antisemites to take on
prominent political roles. It is up to us to wonder, to ask, to demand answers
why so many British feel it appropriate to elect such a man.
It is up to remember
the athletes, to learn their names, to honor their legacy. It is up to us to
make sure it is known, that like the Israelis of today who use their own bodies
as human shields to protect friends and loved ones from terrorists, the Israeli
athletes in Munich also fought to save their friends, endangering themselves to
save others.
In Munich it was Moshe
Weinberg who, sensing the danger, threw himself up against the door, screaming
at his friends to escape before the terrorists could enter. Gad Zavarj survived
because Moshe blocked the terrorists, giving him enough time to jump out of the
window. Yossef Gutfreund did the same, blocking the door so his roommates could
escape.
Their legacy is not
the ugly death at the hands of vile terrorists, their legacy is the sublime
gift of life they gave their friends.
It is up to each and
every one of us to remind first ourselves, and then the rest of the world that
Munich was the beginning, not the end of terrorism spectacles. First came
Munich, then came hijackings, then came 9/11, bombings, car rammings and knife
attacks. London, Paris, Bali, India, Mombasa and Russia. What terrorists did to
their victims in the Bataclan is what they learned from what the Black
September terrorists did to Yossef Romano.
What starts with the
Jews does not end with the Jews.
The horror of the
Munich Massacre is not an Israeli problem or even a Jewish problem. It’s a
human problem.
All decent people should be able to easily say that kidnapping, torture and abuse is wrong. All decent people should be able to easily say that there is no place for politics (or terror tactics meant to influence politics) in sports.
All decent people should be able to easily say that kidnapping, torture and abuse is wrong. All decent people should be able to easily say that there is no place for politics (or terror tactics meant to influence politics) in sports.
But what happens is
not up to “all people”, it is up to each and every one of us, as individuals to
choose if and how we will respond.
I’m pleased to be a
part of the Israel Forever Foundation where we have chosen to honor the legacy
of the murdered – as athletes, friends, family stolen from our people.
We will stand for them
– even if no one else will.
Remembering Munich
isn’t just about commemorating a past tragedy, it’s about protecting our
future. It’s a statement that murdering Jews just because they are Jews, just
because they belong to the Nation of Israel is totally unacceptable. It’s a
statement that the Jewish right to life is the human right to life.
Please visit the
Munich Memory Project and make sure others remember too:
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