WASHINGTON -
15 members of Congress on Thursday held a moment of silence on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. They were remembering the Israeli athletes slain during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.
Their press conference and demonstration was designed to pressure the International Olympic Committee to schedule a similar remembrance during the opening ceremony for the games in London.
So far, the IOC has refused to do that, preferring smaller ceremonies outside the generally-lavish opening ceremony for the games. Family members of the murdered Israelis have asked for the moment of silence in London.
The death toll at the 1972 Olympics was 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, and a West German policeman. A Palestinian terrorist group called Black September climbed over a fence at the Olympic Village in Munich, and took the Israelis hostage, demanding the release of prisoners.
Israel refused to negotiate, so German security forces set a trap in what was supposed to be an escape helicopter. The terrorists caught on, and machine-gunned their prisoners and tossed a grenade. Three of the terrorists survived the firefight and were imprisoned in Germany.
After a Lufthansa airliner was hijacked, the surviving terrorists were released by the German government.
"We know why the IOC has refused [the request for a moment of silence]," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-Fla.) told reporters. "…because the murdered Olympians were Israelis. And the IOC does not want to draw the ire of foreign governments who still object to the very existence of a Jewish state in the homeland of the Jewish people."
Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) added: "Don't confuse a moment of silence with a lack of outrage. We are guided by the saying, 'Never forget.' The International Olympic Committee may want to forget, but we won't let them."
And with that, 15 members of Congress gathered on a lawn on the Capitol grounds, bowed their heads and held their own moment of silence for the athletes slain in Munich 40 years ago.
