The Drum on ABC News 24
2 7 J UN E 2 0 1 2
Honouring the victims of
the 1972 Munich attacks
JOSH FRYDENBERG
In 31 days' time we celebrate the
Games of the 30th Olympiad in
London.
Two weeks of intense
competition and interstate rivalry
is sure to provide a lifetime of memories and, in many cases, a lifetime of friendships.
But unless the International Olympic Committee has a change of heart, there is likely to be in
London something significantly amiss.
Some 40 years ago, at the 20th Olympiad in Munich, West Germany, the world was
shocked when 11 Israelis - six coaches and five athletes - were murdered by the Palestinian
terrorist group Black September.
Since that time the international Olympic movement has refused calls to devote one minute of
silence before the start of every Olympics to remember the tragic events of 1972.
This Olympics in London is the perfect opportunity to right the wrongs of the past. Indeed,
the slogan for the 2012 Olympics is 'Inspire a Generation'. Now it is time to live up to these
words.
Plaques and memorials only go so far. What is now needed is a minute of silence. To deny
this commemoration is to deny the reality of what happened and the urgency of ensuring it
never happens again.
The IOC needs to understand that the terrorists who carried out the attacks of September 56, 1972 took more than the lives of talented Israeli athletes and coaches, devoted fathers and
husbands.
They also took with them the innocence of the entire Olympic movement, a movement which
from its origins at Athens in 1896 was known as a noble sporting competition devoted to the
goal of 'citius, altius, fortius' - faster, higher, stronger.
Thereafter it became the scene for a bloody act of political violence wreaked by those with
no regard for the innocence of sport and the sanctity of international competition.
It was also in Germany, at the Berlin Olympics of 1936, that an ascendant Hitler turned his
back on the victorious American black athlete Jesse Owens, but the events of Munich were
of a different scale and nature, with the loss of so many lives.
This is what the IOC must understand and acknowledge in the appropriate way.
The Olympic Charter itself states emphatically in its first paragraph:
The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a
peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport
practised in accordance with Olympism and its values.
Those values are clearly outlined as the rejection of discrimination and the preservation of
human dignity.
The act of terrorism was a direct repudiation of these values and of the Olympic Charter
itself, thereby making it incumbent upon the IOC to step up and do more than it has been
prepared to do to date.
It must be remembered there are precedents which have seen the Olympic Movement
acknowledge tragedies of the past. In 2010, at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, there was
a minute of silence following the earlier death of an athlete in training, and at the 2002 Salt
Lake City Winter Olympics, there was a special tribute to the victims of September 11.
The question therefore has to be asked of the IOC: what is it that makes commemorating the
events of 1972 so different?
If indeed it is a fear of antagonising countries that are not friendly with Israel, then this is even
a greater reason for the IOC to take a stand.
Sport must be above politics and divorced from political violence of any kind.
A minute's silence at the London Olympics for the 11 Israelis and one German police officer
killed at Munich will send a strong message to the world: never again.
That is why the decision by the Australian Parliament to pass a motion in a bipartisan manner,
Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition alike, calling on the International Olympic
Committee to pay a proper tribute to the innocent lives lost at the Munich Games in 1972 is
so significant.
Joining with the parliaments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel and the United States
Congress, Australia is clearly saying to the IOC that now it is time. Time to ensure the world
does not forget the innocent victims of Munich. Time to observe a minute of silence.
My heart goes out to the families of those lost, particularly to Mrs Ilana Romano and Mrs
Ankie Spitzer, whose husbands, weightlifter Yossef Romano and fencing master Andre
Spitzer, were killed at Munich. Together, those two women have worked hard to promote
this important cause.
To them and all the families affected by the tragedy of Munich I say that we in the Australian
Parliament feel your pain, and we will do all we can to promote the memory of those who so
deserve their one minute of silence.
Josh Frydenberg is the Federal Member for Kooyong. He seconded the motion moved
by the Member for Bradfield calling on the IOC to observe a minute of silence at the
London Olympics. View his full profile here.