Dateline Jerusalem — Having been a klutz most of my life, from sprains to broken bones, “What is your favorite sport?” meant enjoying sports as a spectator, not as a participant. My claim to fame was speedwalking from one end of the UCLA campus to the other in record time while others ran after me asking, “Where is the fire?”
Believe it or not, today speedwalking is an Olympics event. Other than that, and being an avid Dodger fan and UCLA college sports enthusiast, athletics never were a priority in my life. That is, until the 1972 Munich Olympics.
As an American Jew, I was proud of Mark Spitz’s unprecedented seven gold medals in swimming, the first athlete to win seven golds.
But the joy immediately was replaced by sorrow, anguish, utter disbelief. As the coffins of 11 Israeli athletes were being sent home – murdered, massacred by Palestinian “Black September” terrorists who sadistically tortured them, including castration — the Munich Olympics proceeded as though nothing had occurred.
Now as I follow Israel’s Olympic team in Brazil 44 years later, I am proud of them but I fear for their safety.
The allegedly non-political Olympic Games are anything but. In 1936, the Games in Berlin were exploited by Hitler, yemach shemo–may his name be obliterated. Two Jewish American runners were removed from the lineup at the last minute, the only U.S. members not allowed to compete! Shame on the U.S. official, Avery Brundage.
He capitulated to Hitler’s request that the Jews be removed so that they could not embarrass Hitler by standing on the platform when Jesse Owens won the gold medal. Brundage was also the Olympic official in Munich who insisted the Games continue despite the terrorism by the Palestinians.
When the 11 Israeli athletes were barbarically tortured, the precedent continued. An Al Qaeda activist said recently the Munich Massacre was “the greatest media victory and a great propaganda strike.”
Palestinians became emboldened by the media attention to their cause. Two months later they hijacked a German airliner to have the Massacre terrorists released. German Chancellor Brandt conceded without even consulting the Israeli government. This is the kind of appeasement and capitulation to terror that feeds further terror. It sends a message to the world that Israeli lives do not matter.
Olympic prejudice against Israel continues. For decades Israel has been trying to get the murdered Israeli athletes recognized during the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee refused to allow even a moment of silence.
Another Humiliation
In 1984 at the Los Angeles Games that I attended at the Coliseum, the IOC forced the stadium to take down a plaque honoring the memory of the murdered Israeli athletes in Munich until after the Games were over. Yet at the Olympics in London in 2012, the Palestinian Olympics team was honored at city hall.
Despite the rest of the world, Israelis do not forget. They do not forget the Holocaust, the murdered Israeli athletes, nor other victims of terror. The Israeli Olympic delegation holds its own memorial ceremony for the massacred Israelis before leaving Israel to compete.
Finally this year, the new International Olympic Committee president agreed to allow a moment of remembrance during the Rio De Janeiro Olympics. Not specifically for the Israeli athletes who died in a terror attack, but for all athletes who have died at the Olympics. This is because of fear that Arab nations will pull out of the Games. “Good riddance,” I say. As it is, Saudi Arabia forfeited an event when one of their team would have had to compete against an Israeli.
The delegation from Lebanon physically blocked Israelis from boarding and sharing a bus to the opening ceremony.
Olympic organizers sent the Israelis to a different bus in order to avoid an “international and physical incident.” The Lebanese athletes claimed they are “committed to the national position in refusing to be in the same location as Israelis.”
Even Facebook has joined in the dispute. They left the name “Israel” and the Israeli flag off the list of countries partaking in the Olympics in Rio. How is that not political? To add insult, the head of the Palestinian delegation is a known supporter of terror.
For those who think Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas is a “moderate peace partner,” open your eyes.
Treated as a Hero
Munich mastermind Abu Daoud confirmed that the funds for the Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes were provided by Abbas. When one of the planners of the attack died in 2010, Abbas and the Palestinian Authority gave him a hero’s funeral with red carpet and military band. If Abbas is considered a moderate peace partner, tI cannot fathom what a more violent and extreme peace partner would do.
Israel may not have many medals from Olympic competitions, but its athletes are proud of their accomplishments, especially since often they are achieved under threats of violence and duress. As of this writing, Israel has won 8 medals, the latest when Yarden Gerbi won a bronze medal in a female judo competition. So far Israel has won 1 gold, 1 silver, and 6 bronze medals since entering the games for the first time in 1952.
However, the joke about town is that the Israeli delegation’s outfits are gold medal quality. The fashion chain Castro designed the outfits which are in the Israeli flag’s colors of blue and white with overlapping triangles representing the Star of David. Others say the team looks like El Al flight attendants. But USA Today ranked the Israeli uniforms No. 2 on its list of “Best Parade of Nations Outfits.” I guess if we can’t win in athletics, we win in fashion.
I give kudos to Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sport, Miri Regev. Although not an observant Jew, she did Israel proud when she would not violate Shabbat to attend the opening ceremonies of the Rio Olympics. She said, “Shabbat, our national day of rest, is one of the most important gifts that Jewish people have given to the culture of humanity. As the representative of the State of Israel, the sole Jewish state on the planet, I unfortunately cannot take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympics because it would require me to break the holy Sabbath.”
I wish more representatives of Israel’s would follow in her footsteps.
Go Team Israel!
L’hitraot. Shachar