Jews Call For 'Munich 11' Memorial July 5, 2006 - 3:15PM
The Olympic movement should ensure the 11 Israeli athletes killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics are officially recognised during the Beijing Games' opening ceremony, the Jewish community says.
It would be the first time the sportsmen have been officially memorialised at an Olympics opening ceremony since they were taken hostage and ultimately murdered by the Palestinian terrorist organisation Black September at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Hundreds of athletes taking part in an inaugural Australian Jewish sporting event, the Maccabi Australia International Games, have gathered at Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush for a memorial service for the slain athletes.
During a service at Sydney Olympic Park's Tower 14, which is the site of a memorial plaque to the slain athletes, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff called for the sportsmen to be remembered during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"The 11 families (of the Munich victims) have sought a minute's silence, even 30 seconds of silence, at the opening ceremony," Mr Alhadeff told the memorial service.
"It is yet to happen."
He called on the 600 athletes from 14 countries, who were among those attending the service, to return home with the families' message that they want the deaths memorialised at the 2008 opening ceremony.
Mr Alhadeff said a minute's silence would provide an important chance for closure for the families of the victims and it was up to the Olympic movement to make this happen.
"It is at the higher level where there is need for movement.
"In a quest for closure, the 11 families would desperately like a minute's silence at the opening ceremony.
"With the 2008 Games in Beijing two years away, this is a message which we hope the many delegates of the many nations here will take home with them."
The inaugural Maccabi Australia International Games, which began on Sunday and will run until Monday, have attracted about 700 hundred athletes and officials from 14 countries to compete in 11 sports.