ISRAEL DENOUNCES THE IOC AT THE SITE OF ‘84 GAMES IN LOS ANGELES

On Friday morning, just hours before the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Consul General of Israel, David Siegel, convened local officials and community leaders  at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of the 1984 Olympic Games, to do something that the International Olympic Committee has refused to do over the last 40 years. Hold a moment of silence for the Munich 11 – the Israeli athletes and coaches who were killed during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by the Palestinian terror organization Black September.

"Israel proudly joins the 2012 summer games in the spirit of sportsmanship," said Consul General Siegel. "But for us, it is also a moment of solemn reflection as we remember the eleven Israelis who traveled to Munich in the spirit of the Olympic values of respect, excellence, and friendship; only to be brutally murdered at the hands of hate-filled terrorists."

Despite 40 years of requests from the global community, the IOC refuses to properly commemorate the victims during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. "The Israeli athletes were murdered on Olympic soil and should be commemorated on Olympic soil," said Siegel. The Los Angeles community and its leaders have stood with the Israeli athletes to do what the IOC so adamantly refuses.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Barry Sanders, Chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, and Justice Stephen Reinhardt, who served as secretary of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee were all instrumental in bringing a memorial plaque honoring the memory of the Israeli athletes to the Los Angeles Coliseum following the 1984 Olympic Games.

Supervisor Yaroslavsky vividly remembers as "the IOC vetoed our ability to erect the plaque here, so we erected it in City Hall on a temporary basis because the International Olympics Committee didn't want anything to do with remembering the 11 athletes. And now we fast forward to today - where one moment of silence is not granted." Justice Reinhardt recounted, "Twenty eight years ago in Los Angeles we experienced the same stubborn refusal by the IOC to allow us to mark the  vicious murder of the 11 Israeli Olympians."

This week, Councilmember Eric Garcetti authored a resolution calling for a moment of silence at the 2012 Olympic Games. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement, "We take a moment to remember the brutal terrorism and senseless loss of life in Munich 40 years ago. I urge the International Olympic Committee to stand with us and pay tribute to the victims of the Munich Massacre."

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said a prayer for the Munich 11 which was followed by a solemn, reflective minute of silence. As Sanders said, "there should never be such a thing as a murdered Olympian. We honor their memory and we always will."