USA/FILE: Congressman Eliot Engel calls on the International Olympics Committee to pause for a moment of silence in honour of the 11 victims of the Munich Massacre in 1972

Record ID: 330795

  • Title: USA/FILE: Congressman Eliot Engel calls on the International Olympics Committee to pause for a moment of silence in honour of the 11 victims of the Munich Massacre in 1972
  • Date: 8th June 2012
  • Summary: MUNICH, GERMANY (FILE - 6TH SEPTEMBER 1972 (10802/72) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) MEMORIAL SERVICE AT OLYMPIC STADIUM OLYMPIC FLAGS AT HALF STAFF ATHLETES WOMAN CRYING IN THE STANDS STADIUM
  • Embargoed: 23rd June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany, Usa
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: History,Politics,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2B9IKWMSFQ62CKOHWN9IRLX8D
  • Story Text: The House Foreign Affairs Committee is urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to honor the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were killed at the 1972 Olympics in Munich with a minute of silence at the 2012 Olympic games in London.
    Committee members Eliot Engel and his colleague Rep. Nita Lowey are pushing forward legislation calling for the minute of silence during the Olympic opening ceremony on July 27.
    "It doesn't matter whether it's Israelis, Americans or athletes of any other country who were killed. Athletes participating in the Olympics were murdered and the IOC does nothing about it. Forty years later it's time for them to have a minute of silence," Engel said on Thursday (June 7).
    The IOC rejected requests from Engel, Lowey and the Israeli government last month, saying it has paid tribute to the victims before.
    This year marks the 40th anniversary of the massacre of athletes and coaches.
    On Sepember 5, 1972, eight Palestinian gunmen slipped into the Olympic village and killed two athletes. They took nine other Israeli athletes and officials hostage, demanding the release of 234 prisoners held in Israel and two in Germany.
    All of the hostages were killed during a bungled rescue mission an an airport tarmac when a firefight ensued between the Palestinian gunmen and the German police. Five gunmen and a German policeman were also killed.
    "They should embrace it, run with it and put the world on notice that we all condemn terrorism and the very purpose of Olympic battles is to show a solidarity in the world and that solidarity was breached by murderers in Munich in 1972," Engel said.
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