Timing Not Right for Munich Moment of Silence, Says Gilady

(ATR) The IOC member from Israel "cannot be supportive" of a minute's silence in memory of victims of the Munich massacre during the opening ceremony to the 2012 Olympics and is taking flak at home for his stance.

Alex Gilady tells Around the Rings that although he is "not against" the request – initiated on the 40th anniversary of the tragedy by families of the victims – the timing is not right for such a gesture, he says.

"[It's] so dangerous for the very fragile unity of the Olympics, and it will not serve anything but bad things," he tells ATR from Rio de Janeiro, where he is a member of the IOC Coordination Commission for 2016. "And for the sake of the unity of the Olympics, I am standing where I’m standing."

The IOC has already formally rejected the request, filed last month by Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon.

Ayalon lashed out at Gilady on Friday in the Ma’ariv newspaper. "It is a shame that one who claims to represent the interests of Israel isn’t willing to support the world wide humanitarian initiative that gains such wide support among politicians and general public in Israel and abroad," he said in a translation provided by Gilady’s office.

Gilady tells ATR, "The vice minister for foreign affairs says that he doesn’t think I represent the interests of Israel and I said that the way I represent the interests of Israel is as I see them."

Gilady believes a moment of silence could be so divisive that it could lead to a boycott. "It would become very political because there will not be all the countries in the world loving this," he says. "Don’t forget, the people who committed the tragedy were Palestinians (of the group Black September). Palestine is now part of the Olympic Games since Atlanta 1996.

"[A moment of silence] did not happen until today, and why start now? We have enough issues on our table."

Gilady says that the right time to honor the victims was in Munich – which the IOC did on Sept. 6, 1972, the day after the 11 athletes and coaches were killed. "There was the most emotional ceremony the day after with all the athletes and the full stadium and a moment of silence and a day without Games," he says.

"The next time would have been in Montreal four years later. But this did not happen. You go to Moscow, Israel boycotted Moscow. You go to Los Angeles where the Jew was the chairman of the organizing committee (Paul Ziffren) and nobody was paying attention to this and then suddenly it comes out (now)."

Israel has proposed a moment of silence at previous Games, but has always been turned down by the IOC. The 40th anniversary was thought to have added resonance.

However, IOC president Jacques Rogge wrote in a letter dated May 15, "The IOC has officially paid tribute to the memory of the athletes on several occasions. Within the Olympic family, the memory of the victims of the terrible massacre in Munich in 1972 will never fade away."

Gilady adds,"We have at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne a sculpture in their memory. Every time the National Olympic Committee of Israel is doing a memorial ceremony during the Olympic Games, the president or someone at the highest possible (level) is coming and speaking."

He says he sympathizes with the widows of those killed: "They have to do their job, I have to do mine."

According to the news reports, Gilady pointed out that "only last week Ma'ariv newspaper published an article stating that the Arab countries prevented Israel from joining the Mediterranean Games. In addition, we were expelled from the Asian Games in ‘74 and we never got back. Europe has accepted us to her lap only in ‘94 which is mere evidence that we must struggle in various rings for our place. That is the reason why it is not the right time for a minute's silence. Although I am pleased with what the families are doing, I cannot support it."

Ilana Romano, the widow of Josef Romano, one of the murder victims, told the newspaper, "We are fighting in the past 40 years for recognition and condemnation of the Munich Terror. We will not let go although the answer was negative. The committee are afraid and acts as an ostrich. I ask: if this would have happened to Arabic, American or French delegation, would it (have) passed in silence?"

Written by Karen Rosen

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