Opening ceremony at Olympics won’t include moment of silence for Munich victims

The International Olympic Committee will not be including a moment of silence or other tribute at the London games’ opening ceremonies to the Israeli victims of the massacre at the Munich games in 1972, a spokesman said Friday.

He said the 11 Israeli team members would be commemorated at an event elsewhere during the upcoming London Olympics, just as there have been memorial events at previous Olympics.

The IOC has come under increasing pressure from Israel, world officials and family members of the victims to acknowledge the Palestinian terror attack at the 1972 Munich Games during the opening ceremony. Last month, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle wrote to IOC head Jacques Rogge urging him to allow for a moment of silence.

According to a report in the London Jewish Chronicle Thursday, Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, told his staff to prepare for a memorial ceremony during the opening event, but the IOC spokesman told Israel’s Channel 2 news that this would not be taking place.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who has led the campaign for a moment of silence, had welcomed the JC report.

“The news that there might be a memorial during the opening ceremony for the Israeli sportsmen murdered in Munich is positive, but I still the urge the IOC to accept what is being asked from them from around the world, namely a one minute silence at the opening ceremony,” Ayalon told The Times of Israel. “Such a request has been made by many governments and parliaments, which showed that it was never a political or a contentious demand, but a request for a basic humanitarian gesture.”

Politicians from Britain, the US, Australia and other places have joined Israel in calling for the memorial, which the IOC earlier said it rejected for fear of “politicizing” the Games.

The Olympics are set to kick off on July 27 in London.