Italian parliament holds a minute of silence for Munich victims

The Italian Chamber of Deputies held a minute of silence on Wednesday in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes killed at the Summer Olympics in Munich in 1972.

The gesture came in response to a request by Fiamma Nirenstein, vice president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and chairwoman of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians.

“Our parliament has been in the forefront of the battle for the remembrance of the victims of terror,” Nirenstein said. “The minute of silence held by the whole assembly; the resolution jointly approved by the Culture and Sport Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee, calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to preserve the memory of the Israeli victims; and the letter to the President of the IOC signed by over 150 Italian MPs from all parties – are all meant to rectify the mistake made by the IOC when it denied, for the umpteenth time, a minute of silence at the opening ceremony of the London Games this Friday.”