When politics become an Olympic sport (Haaretz)

 

Zie ook: Olympische Spelen 40 jaar na München 

 

When politics become an Olympic sport (Haaretz)

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/east-side-story/when-politics-become-an-olympic-sport-1.453919

Palestinian officials are speaking the language of war at the same time that their security forces are acting strongly against anyone who might target Israelis.

By Avi Issacharoff | Jul.27, 2012 | 1:21 AM

Palestinian Olympics president Jibril Rajoub recently sent a letter to the International Olympics president Jacques Rogge thanking him for opposing the Israeli request to hold a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims in the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, the Palestinian daily al-Hayat al-Jadida and the Palestinian Media Watch research institute have reported.

In the letter, Rajoub wrote that "sport is a bridge for love, unification and for spreading peace among the nations, and it must not be a cause for divisiveness and for the spreading of racism."

Needless to say, Rajoub describes the despicable act of terror merely as an "act," nothing more. It is unclear how Rajoub had succeeded in turning a moment of silence in the memory of athletes killed in an appalling manner by terrorists into an act of "spreading racism."

In a phone call from London, Rajoub told me Thursday afternoon that the Israeli demand is an attempt to mix sports with politics. "Are we supposed to ask for a moment of silence on behalf of every Palestinian family you killed bombing Gaza? Or on behalf of a Palestinian athlete killed by Israeli fire?" he asked. "There are those in Israel who wish to exploit the stage for political gain," Rajoub added.

As a reporter following the remarks of Palestinian officials for more than a few years, it is hard to say that Rajoub's words surprised me. Still, they managed to anger me. I tried explaining that there exists a difference between a family killed by mistake during bombings and an act of terror aimed at civilians, but it didn't impress him.

Rajoub is part of the Palestinian peace camp, an enthusiastic supporter of the two states solution. Maybe I am angered because these words are voiced by a Fatah official who supports a peace agreement with Israel. If it was a member of Hamas, his words would have been received with indifference.

This is a bigger problem, as Rajoub is not the exception. Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials are referring, again and again, to the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi as a hero, a freedom fighter. Mughrabi took part in the 1978 attack on Israel's coast road (connecting Tel Aviv and Haifa), killing 37 Israelis, 12 of them children.

Over and over, the officials are including Lod, Ramle and Haifa as a part of the Palestinian land and are misleading their people that one day they will return to those cities as part of their right of return.

True, everyone are politicians. They don't want to be perceived as if they are compromising, giving up, "gentle soul" lefties, etc.

Nevertheless, criticism is often heard against Netanyahu and the right, that they are not partners for peace. So what is the Israeli public to understand from remarks such as this?

This is an interesting process. While in the days of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority was talking with the Israelis in terms of peace but allowed violence to go wild, in recent years the trend was reversed: Palestinian officials are speaking the language of war at the same time that the Palestinian security forces are acting strongly against anyone who might target Israelis. The security cooperation is strictly kept and includes constant coordination between the two sides.

This honeymoon between security forces on both sides began in the summer of 2007. The question is how long the Palestinian Authority could stand the criticism over its cooperation with Israel.

Quite a lot of Israeli security officials are warning that without a political horizon, the Palestinian security forces would eventually collapse. This Israeli government, so it seems, is not extremely troubled by this scenario.

Tijd dat Jacques Rogge van het Olympische Comité de eer aan zichzelf houdt

De weigering een minuut stilte te houden ter ere van de Israelische Olympische ploeg die in 1972, precies 40 jaar geleden, door Palestijnse terroristen werd vermoord, is niet goed te praten. Daarom meent Joods Actueel dat IOC president Jaques Rogge, een Belg, moet aftreden. Er was in de openingsceremonie eerder wel ruimte voor het herdenken van een omgekomen Georgische sporter en de slachtoffers van 9-11. De voornaamste reden om geen aandacht aan de Israelische slachtoffers te besteden is dat dit moeilijk ligt bij de Arabische staten en Iran. De Palestijnse Autoriteit heeft Rogge bedankt voor het feit dat de Israeli’s niet worden herdacht. De PA heeft nooit afstand genomen van de aanslag, waar Abbas ook (indirect) bij betrokken was, en heeft de plegers veelvuldig geprezen.

RP
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Tijd dat Jacques Rogge de eer aan zichzelf houdt – videopetitie gelanceerd [+ audio update]

http://joodsactueel.be/2012/07/25/dubbele-standaarden-van-het-internationaal-olympisch-comite/

Woensdag 25 Juli, 2012 16:56

Het Internationaal Olympische Comité hanteert dubbele standaarden als het aankomt op de herdenking van gevallen sportmensen. Twijfelt iemand er aan dat mochten de gedode atleten Amerikaans geweest zijn, of Brits of Palestijns, het Olympisch Comité een passend eerbetoon zou brengen? Het is tijd dat IOC president Rogge de eer aan zichzelf houdt en opstapt. Bekijk de videoclip en stuur het door.

Rogge hield een summiere moment van stilte eerder deze week in het atletendorp. Het ging om een schertsvertoning, er was geen Israëlische vlag te zien, geen rabbijn, de families van de slachtoffers werden niet op de hoogte gebracht, enz. Dat was een schandalige manier om er toch nog vlug van af te geraken.

Waarom werden tijdens openingsceremonies wel verwijzingen gemaakt naar de Bosnische oorlog in 1996 en waarom openden de Spelen van 2002 met een minuut stilte voor de slachtoffers van 9/11? En tijdens de Spelen van Vancouver in 2010 werd een moment van stilte in acht genomen voor de omgekomen Georgische sporter.

Waarom, als het op Israël aankomt, worden alle grote woorden over “broederschap” en “eendracht” op een hoopje geveegd?

In de afgelopen maanden hebben meer dan 100.000 mensen uit 155 verschillende landen een petitie ondertekend, waarin om een minuut stilte wordt gevraagd tijdens de openingsceremonie van de Spelen in Londen. Het Congres van de Verenigde Staten, het Canadese parlement, de Duitse Bundestag, het Australische Huis van Afgevaardigden en anderen hebben unaniem resoluties aangenomen waarin deze redelijke vraag wordt herhaald. Ook President Barak Obama heeft zich aangesloten. Het Olympisch Comité bleef koppig weigeren.

Vanavond biedt Ankie Rechess, de weduwe van een van de vermoorde atleten, de petitie aan aan Rogge in Londen. Dat liet ze vanavond weten op Radio1. Zij en de andere nabestaanden zijn niet te spreken over de nepceremonie in het Olympisch dorp: “Omdat hij wist dat we naar Londen kwamen heeft hij gauw een minuut stilte ingelast terwijl hij met een dertigtal mensen een tochtje door het sportdorp maakte op deze manier heeft zich als een dief in de nacht er vanaf gemaakt” aldus Rechess die hoopt dat Rogge alsnog zijn morele verantwoordelijkheid zal opnemen.

Michael Freilich: “Rogge heeft een atmosfeer gecreëerd waardoor hij niet langer geschikt is om deze functie uit te bekleden”.

Machmoud Abbas en de aanslag op de Olympische Spelen in Munchen 1972

In een interview met Sports Illustrated uit 2005 vertelde mastermind Abu Daoud dat Machmoud Abbas voor de financiering van de aanslag had gezorgd. Ook hadden hij en Arafat hem succes toegewenst toen hij met de organisatie van de aanslag begon. Daoud en anderen die bij de aanslag betrokken waren zijn door het Palestijnse leiderschap altijd geprezen, zoals in dit stuk naar aanleiding van Daouds dood in 2010:

"In its [Black September terror group's] ranks were many distinguished men and women, headed by the Panther of Palestine, Salah Khalaf 'Abu Iyad.' Abu Daoud was one of his prominent assistants. His [Abu Daoud's] name shined brightly in the German city of Munich in 1972, where the Olympics took place....May Allah have mercy on this great Fatah fighter and patriot, Abu Daoud."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2010]

----------------

Mahmoud Abbas' connections to the Munich Olympics massacre

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2012/07/mahmoud-abbas-connections-to-munich.html


This Sports Illustrated article from 2002 has some details that are relevant on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Munich Olympics massacre.

Following the Oslo Accords of 1993, the mastermind of Black September's Munich attack enjoyed a certain respectability. Mohammed Daoud Oudeh, a.k.a. Abu Daoud, sat on the Palestinian National Council, where in 1996 he joined a majority in voting to revoke the clause in the PLO charter calling for Israel's destruction. Though Israel had long known of his role at Munich -- Mossad was believed to have been involved in a 1981 assassination attempt in which he was shot six times -- he even carried an Israeli-issued VIP pass that allowed him to shuttle between his home in Amman, Jordan, and the occupied territories.

All that changed in 1999 after Abu Daoud openly acknowledged his role in the Olympic attack, both in his memoir, Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich, published in Paris, and in an interview with the Arab TV network al-Jazeera. Germany issued an international arrest warrant on Abu Daoud, and Israel canceled his travel credentials, barring him from the Palestinian lands he had spent his adult life trying to liberate....

"At the time, it was the correct thing to do for our cause," Abu Daoud told SI. AP
In late July, SI's Don Yaeger went to the Middle East to find the 72-year-old Abu Daoud. After five days in Syria, where he met with leaders of several Palestinian groups, including the Palestinian Authority, PA president Yasir Arafat's Fatah faction and the militant Hamas, Yaeger received a call from Abu Daoud, who said he was in Cyprus. Abu Daoud, who would not reveal where he resides -- saying only that he lives with his wife on a pension provided by the PA -- agreed to answer written questions. Among his claims, in his memoir and to SI, are these:

Though he wasn't involved in conceiving or implementing it, "the [Munich] operation had the endorsement of Arafat." Arafat is not known to have responded to the allegations in Abu Daoud's book. In May 1972 four Black Septembrists hijacked a Sabena flight from Brussels to Tel Aviv, hoping to free comrades from Israeli jails. But Israeli special forces stormed the plane, killing or capturing all the terrorists and freeing every passenger, leaving Arafat, by Abu Daoud's account, desperate to boost morale in the refugee camps by showing that Israel was vulnerable.

Though he didn't know what the money was being spent for, longtime Fatah official Mahmoud Abbas, a.k.a. Abu Mazen, was responsible for the financing of the Munich attack.Abu Mazen could not be reached for comment regarding Abu Daoud's allegation. After Oslo in 1993, Abu Mazen went to the White House Rose Garden for a photo op with Arafat, President Bill Clinton and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. "Do you think that ... would have been possible if the Israelis had known that Abu Mazen was the financier of our operation?" Abu Daoud writes. "I doubt it." Today the Bush Administration seeks a Palestinian negotiating partner "uncompromised by terror," yet last year Abu Mazen met in Washington with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
[...]

While he doesn't regret his role in the operation, Abu Daoud told SI, "I would be against any operation like Munich ever again. At the time, it was the correct thing to do for our cause. ... The operation brought the Palestinian issue into the homes of 500 million people who never previously cared about Palestinian victims at the hands of the Israelis." Today, he says, an attack on an event like the Olympics would only damage the Palestinians' image.

Daoud also was interviewed about the Munich massacre for a film called "One Day in September," produced by John Battsek and Arthur Cohn for Sony Pictures Classics. Director Kevin Macdonald said Abu Daoud admitted Black September was merely the cover name adopted by Fatah members when they wanted to carry out terrorist attacks.

The PLO operative recalled how Arafat and Abu Mazen both wished him luck and kissed him when he set about organizing the Munich attack.

In an interview in 2006, Abu Daoud described how the Olympics massacre was a great victory for the Palestinian Arab cause:

Discussing the Palestinians' struggle for a homeland and rejecting the use of the word "terrorist" to describe its fighters, he said of the Munich days: "There was nothing we weren't prepared to do to keep the Palestinian cause in the public eye.

"Before Munich, we were simply terrorists. After Munich, at least people started asking who are these terrorists? What do they want? Before Munich, nobody had the slightest idea about Palestine."

"Today, I cannot fight you anymore, but my grandson will and his grandsons, too," he said, addressing Israelis.

Unfortunately, the murderous calculus of the PLO was correct. Only two years after Munich, Yasir Arafat was honored at the UN.

When Abu Daoud died in 2010 of kidney failure in Damascus, Mahmoud Abbas praised him without any equivocation:

President Mahmoud Abbas sent a telegram of condolences yesterday over the death of the great fighter Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' who died just before reaching 70. The telegram of condolences read: 'The deceased was one of the prominent leaders of the Fatah movement and lived a life filled with the struggle, devoted effort, and the enormous sacrifice of the deceased for the sake of the legitimate problem of his people, in many spheres. He was at the forefront on every battlefield, with the aim of defending the [Palestinian] revolution. What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter.[Al Hayat al Jadida, July 4, 2010]

President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday held a telephone conversation with the family of the Shahid (Martyr) fighter Muhammad Oudeh, Abu Daoud, member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and former head of the movement's Supervisory Committee, and expressed his condolences over [Oudeh's] death.

During the conversation the President noted [Oudeh's] life filled with the struggle, his devoted effort, and the enormous sacrifice of the deceased for the sake of the legitimate problem of his people, in many spheres. He was at the forefront on every battlefield, with the aim of defending the [Palestinian] revolution." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010]

And official PA media were even more explicit in their praise for the Olympic massacre and its architect:

"In its [Black September terror group's] ranks were many distinguished men and women, headed by the Panther of Palestine, Salah Khalaf 'Abu Iyad.' Abu Daoud was one of his prominent assistants. His [Abu Daoud's] name shined brightly in the German city of Munich in 1972, where the Olympics took place....May Allah have mercy on this great Fatah fighter and patriot, Abu Daoud."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2010]

(I posted the SI article originally in 2005.)

Palestijnse Autoriteit tegen minuut stilte voor Olympische slachtoffers München

De PA is verheugd dat het IOC geen gehoor geeft aan de Israelische wens, ondersteund door diverse landen en ca. 150.000 handtekeningen, om een minuut stilte in acht te nemen voor de gedode Israelische atleten in Munchen in 1972. Sterker nog, de PA heeft nooit afstand genomen van deze terroristische daad en de plegers meermaals geprezen en als voorbeeld voor de Palestijnse jeugd gepresenteerd. Hieronder een aantal voorbeelden daarvan.

RP
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PA against moment of silence at Olympics:
"Sports are meant for peace, not for racism"


by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=7189


The Palestinian Authority is against the moment of silence at the Olympics to commemorate the Israeli athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972. According to the headline in the official PA daily, "Sports are meant for peace, not for racism."

According to Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee:

"Sports are meant for peace, not for racism... Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading of peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them [nations]."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]


These words appeared in a letter sent by Rajoub to the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. The letter "expressed appreciation for [Rogge's] position, who opposed the Israeli position, which demanded a moment's silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London."

The PA daily does not refer to the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 as terror. In the article about Rajoub's letter, the killing of the athletes is referred to as "the Munich Operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972."

The PA is against the moment of silence because they view the murder of Israelis by Palestinians not as terror but as heroism. Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA's ongoing policy to glorify terror and terrorists. The murder of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics is presented as a highlight of Palestinian "operations" and one of their great accomplishments. In 2010, the official PA daily referred to the Olympic massacre as a "shining station" and its planner was called a "star who sparkled... at the sports stadium in Munich" (see below for full texts of the PA glorifying the terror attack at the Olympics and the terrorists who planned it).

In his letter, PA Olympics Committee Head Rajoub praised Rogge's refusal to have a moment of silence in memory of the Israeli athletes:

"He said that his [Rogge's] position not to politicize sports, and his determination to implement the International Olympic Charter represents a victory for freedom in sports." (See the full article about Rajoub's letter below.)

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]


The following are examples of how PA leaders and the PA's official newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida have glorified the Olympic massacre and the terrorists who planned it:

Honoring Amin Al-Hindi, planner of the Olympic attack:

"One of the stars who sparkled... one of many shining stations."


Official PA daily on Al-Hindi:

"Everyone knows that Amin Al-Hindi was one of the stars who sparkled at one of the stormiest points on the international level - the operation that was carried outat the [Olympics] sports stadium in Munich, Germany, in 1972. That was just one of many shining stations."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20,2010]


Secretary General of the Abbas' office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim on Al-Hindi:

"Secretary General of the President's office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, delivered a speech in which he praised the qualities of the deceased. He stressed that the loss of Al-Hindi is a great loss to the Palestinian people, who are bereaved of a prominent national leader...
The Secretary General of the Presidential office said: 'We shall continue in the path of the Shahid (Martyr) Yasser Arafat and his fellow Shahids, such as Amin Al-Hindi...'"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2010]


Abbas and Fayyad honor Al-Hindi:

"The Palestinian leadership, along with President Mahmoud Abbas, parted yesterday from the body of the Fatah leader and fighter patriot Amin Al-Hindi. This was at an imposing official military funeral that was held at the [PA] headquarters...
Present at the headquarters for the farewell ceremony and for the official military funeral, along with the President [Abbas], were Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad; Secretary General of the Presidential office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim; members of the PLO Executive Council and of the Fatah Central Committee; several ministers, commanders of security forces, senior civic and military personnel, as well as relatives of the deceased... President Abbas and the participants at the funeral cast a final parting look at the body, and laid wreaths. Afterwards, the President and those present read the opening sura [of the Quran] for the elevation of his pure soul."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2010]


Honoring Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' a second planner of the Olympic attack:

"His name shone brightly in the German city of Munich"

PA TV News, on Oudeh:

"Palestinians were surprised this morning at the announcement of the death of one of the most important leaders of the Palestinian revolution, Muhammad Daoud Oudeh (Abu Daoud), who engineered the Munich Operation and was one of the most important of Israel's most wanted in the 1970s."

[PA TV (Fatah), July 4, 2010]


Official PA daily, on Oudeh:

"In its [Black September wing of PLO] ranks were many distinguished men and women, headed by the Panther of Palestine, Salah Khalaf 'Abu Iyad.' Abu Daoud was one of his prominent assistants. His [Abu Daoud's] name shone brightly in the German city of Munich in 1972, where the Olympics took place. Oh, how these events evolved into a violent drama of the most tragic kind... May Allah have mercy on this great Fatah fighter and patriot, Abu Daoud."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2010]


Mahmoud Abbas on Oudeh:

"What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter."

"President Mahmoud Abbas sent a telegram of condolences yesterday over the death of the great fighter Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' who died just before reaching 70. The telegram of condolences read: 'The deceased was one of the prominent leaders of the Fatah movement and lived a life filled with the struggle, devoted effort, and the enormous sacrifice of the deceased for the sake of the legitimate problem of his people, in many spheres. He was at the forefront on every battlefield, with the aim of defending the [Palestinian] revolution. What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 4, 2010]


Abbas Zaki, member Fatah Central Committee, on Oudeh:

"He started his life as a regular individual and concluded it with giant stature... We have lost a man on the level of the Arab region and on the level of the world revolutionary movement, by virtue of his noble actions and his glorious history. Bestowing this honor in every place, inside the homeland and outside of it, does justice to this mighty man."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010]


Dr. Samir Al-Refa'I, Secretary of the Fatah branch in Syria, on Oudeh:

"With the fall of Abu Daoud as a Shahid we have lost a man who is worth all other men together... Abu Daoud is one of the symbols of the Fatah movement... He will always remain our ideal and a role model for the generations to come."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010]


The following is the article about Jibril Rajoub's letter of appreciation to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge:


Headline: "Rajoub expresses appreciation for Rogge's position and emphasizes that sports are meant for peace, not for racism"

"'Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them.' With these words the President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, Jibril Rajoub, began a special letter which he sent to president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. He expressed appreciation for [Rogge's] position, who opposed the Israeli position, which demanded a moment's silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London. He said that his position not to politicize sports, and his determination to implement the International Olympic Charter represents a victory for freedom in sports. It should be noted that Rogge once again expressed the position of the executive office of the International Olympic Committee, which opposes the idea of holding a moment's silence during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, to mark the anniversary of the Munich operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012

Drie minuten klokkengeluid, maar geen minuut stilte voor Olympische slachtoffers München

Zie ook: When politics become an Olympic sport (Avi Issacharoff)

____________________________________________________________


Three minutes of bells, but no time for silence
http://hurryupharry.org/2012/07/26/three-minutes-of-bells-but-no-time-for-silence/

Cross-Post, July 26th 2012, 6:00 pm

This is a guest post from Jonathan Sacerdoti, Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy.

Tomorrow, Big Ben will chime non-stop for three minutes to mark the opening of the Olympic games in London. The opening ceremony will begin with the ringing of the world’s largest ‘harmonically tuned’ bell. People around the country are even being urged to ring a bell of their own (be it a doorbell or a bicycle bell) at precisely 8.12am. Olympic pride, it seems, is something to be noisy about. Yet at 10.30am, at the north end of Trafalgar Square, there will be a group of people who plan to remain completely silent, for just one minute.

Those in the square are part of a huge international effort to have a minute of silence included in the opening ceremony, in memory of 11 Israeli athletes who were brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists 40 years ago at the Munich Olympics. Their deaths have never been marked in an opening ceremony, despite repeated requests. This year, once again, such requests even from Boris Johnson and Barack Obama have been repeatedly and publicly refused.

The Olympics celebrates the impressive physical capabilities of humankind through those who are the very best in the world at their sports. But it should be an opportunity not just to marvel at our physical potential, but also to reach new ethical and moral highs. Through the idea of the Olympic Truce, where nations put aside their differences to compete as equals, the Olympics should be a beacon of compassion and morality, where politics is not meant to intrude. Those who hijacked the greatest international celebration of sport for their own brutal political aims are the ones who smashed to pieces that which is central to the spirit of the games, with dreadful consequences.

You might wonder why it is so important to mark this 40th anniversary. Haven’t things moved on since 1972? Sadly, it seems, they have not. Just last week Hezbollah terrorists, acting as Iran’s proxy, blew up a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. Within the last few months, terror attacks were attempted against Israeli embassies in Georgia and Bangkok, and the Israeli ambassador to India’s wife was seriously injured in a terrorist attack on her car in Delhi. Just a few weeks ago, Iranian terror plots against Israelis in Kenya and Cyprus were foiled.

The Palestinians appear to show little remorse for killing the Israeli athletes (and with them the spirit of the Olympics). The man who claims that the Munich killings were his idea, Abu Daoud, twice claimed that funds for the terror operation were provided by none other than Mahmoud Abbas, the current Palestinain President (and the man with whom the state of Israel is now expected to negotiate a peace deal). As recently as 2010, the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, referred to the Olympic massacre as a “shining station”. The planner of the slaughter, Amin Al-Hindi, was described by the newspaper as a “star who sparkled… at the sports stadium in Munich”, and his military funeral was reported to have been attended by both Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The paper reported that “afterwards, the President and those present read the opening sura [of the Quran] for the elevation of his pure soul.”

With the Palestinian Authority apparently unrepentant for the attack, the atrocity’s money-man now their president, and further attacks on Israelis around the world taking place on a regular basis, it seems that international terrorism is alive and kicking in 2012. It comes as little surprise, then, that almost twice as many British soldiers deployed in Afghanistan are involved in providing security at the London Olympics. If this seems shocking, remember that countries like Israel have long been used to needing such security measures at public events.

Terrorism is a huge and real threat not only to Israel, but also to the entire western world. Terrorism is the enemy of everything for which the Olympics stands. If anything, the threat has got worse since the Munich games of 1972. That is precisely why the opening ceremony of the London games should include a clear and unambiguous reminder of the worst ever attack on Olympic values.

Facebook and Twitter are bursting with comments from people who attended the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony, imploring each other not to post photographs, but to “save the surprise”. For those who truly appreciate the values that are central to the Olympics, the best surprise the opening ceremony could provide would be just five and a half seconds of silence for each of the eleven murdered Israeli athletes.