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Jewish Blood Is Cheap

(Tablet) Deborah E. Lipstadt - For the past few months there has been a concerted effort to get the International Olympic Committee to set aside one minute of silence at the opening ceremony at this year's games to commemorate the Israeli athletes who were murdered at the Munich games in 1972. IOC President Juan Samaranch said the Olympic movement avoided political issues, though at the 1996 opening ceremony he spoke about the Bosnian war. The 2002 games opened with a minute of silence for the victims of 9/11. At the 2010 winter games, there was a moment of silence to commemorate an athlete who died in a training accident. The IOC's explanation is nothing more than a pathetic excuse. The athletes who were murdered were from Israel and were Jews - that is why they aren't being remembered. I have long inveighed against the tendency of some Jews to see anti-Semitism behind every action that is critical of Israel or of Jews. Here the charge is absolutely accurate. This was the greatest tragedy to ever occur during the Olympic Games. Imagine for a moment that these athletes had been from the U.S., Canada, Australia, or even Germany. The writer is Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University.
2012-07-20 00:00:00
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