BICOM

According to a report by AP, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has joined calls for a moments silence during tomorrow’s opening ceremony in London to mark forty years since eleven Israeli athletes were murdered by a Palestinian armed group at the 1972 Munich games. Clinton apparently wrote to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to ask the IOC to hold an “appropriate memorial event” in London for the victims. A diplomatic source told the news agency that Clinton specifically urged the IOC to reverse its decision not to hold a moment of silence at the opening ceremony. Rogge has resisted calls for a minutes silence led by family members of the victims, though other memorial events have been held in London week. The calls for the minutes silence have been backed by Israeli ministers, and have received international support, including from German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.

Writing about the Olympics in today’s Yediot Ahronot, British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould recalled the, “horrific murders in the Munich games.” Gould added, “I know that no Israeli team can march into the Olympic stadium under the Israeli flag and not remember the victims of Munich.  The families of those victims should know that they will never be forgotten.”