I’m not asking to troll or try to start a fight but because I’m genuinely curious as to what makes you say that.
What other nations have had their athletes kidnapped and then murdered at the Olympics.
Have there been worst atrocities committed?
Obviously yes.
Have there been even worst atrocities committed by Israelis?
Again yes. To give obvious examples, Deir Yassin, Kibbiya, and Kfar Kassem.
However, those atrocities weren’t intimately connected to the Olympics.
What happened at Munich was.
I don’t really want to argue here, because I don’t think my overall opinion is all that different from yours, but… it’s not like the IOC doing nothing (as they did) is in any way particularly an endorsement of any specific position, it’s just being kind of weak and ineffectual. There’s a big difference between omission and commission. Here are two hypotheticals in which the IOC would clearly be bending to pressure from Bad People and compromising their ideals, and in both cases I would be utterly outraged:
(1) The games are held in a Muslim country, and the IOC bows to pressure from Islamist groups and insists that all female athletes from all countries must march in the parade of nations in headscarves
(2) There is a long-standing tradition that at the end of each opening ceremonies, there is a moment of silence while the names of all Olympic medalists who died in the past year are read. There has never been an exception to this, no matter what, until… an Israeli athlete dies during military service, and the IOC bows to political pressure and removes his or her name from the list of dead athletes.
In either of those cases, the big difference is that there is actually an action being TAKEN which clearly endorses a position, clearly devalues one set of people, etc., as opposed to just refusing to do a new thing.
I still would have supported the decision to hold the moment of silence if they had made it, but I don’t think their decision was an outrage.
Then you would let the terrorists win?
Also a consideration.
I suppose I can see where you’re coming from, and if you found my post offensive, I apologize. However, it was meant as a general reference to ethnocentrism, not a specific assertion that Palestinians are particularly ethnocentric.
I would have said much the same thing if the Argentine delegation found it offensive that there was a moment of silence for British war dead, for example.
I also apologize for the drunk posting comment.
Fair enough, I’ll certainly accept your apology. Offering it is certainly big of you and not something you had to do, so I appreciate it.
We all say things we regret.
As to your comment regarding Rajoub, I get the impression that what you are trying to say(correct me if I’m wrong) that your point is more that of course he’s going to say something like that, he’s the head of the Palestinian Olympic committee, it’s his job to say things like that.
You could even point out that his decision is along the same lines as the Arab nations at the 1972 Olympics who insisted that at the memorial service for the murdered athletes their flags not be lowered.
by refusing to have a minute of silence they are taking side… there are quotes of numerous IOC members saying all kind of stuff- Alex giladi (a vice-president in the IOC) said that if they will agree to give a moment of silence to honor the athletes they will have to honor the terrorists that died during the German rescue operation, even though it is so absurd… so by comparing the athletes to the terrorists that killed them they are taking a clear side…
I have no problems with not giving the minute of silence, but than I have to ask the IOC to change their speeches during the Olympic ceremony.. they cannot say those things about dignity, respect, honoring each other, and afterwards not to give the minimal respect and honor to true Olympians that died while staying in the Olympic village.. they didn’t die only as Israelis or Jews, they died as part of the Olympic extended family…
trust me.. if any other athlete would have died in a terror attack inside the Olympic village with other nationality except Israeli they would have done it every Olympic games
Yes, that too.
I didn’t know anything about that.
the main question shouldn’t be what is right for the IOC to do…
I think since it is clear that if they will make the minute of silence during the opening ceremony, 20-30 Arab countries would boycott the Olympic games…
the real question is -
what is more important for the IOC- the participation of 20-30 Arab countries or values such as dignity, honor, bravery, justice and etc’…
by the way - some of those countries are now threatening to boycott the games if their women athletes wouldn’t allowed to wear HIJAB…
so where does the IOC marks the border for those boycott-threatening countries?
It’s the International Olympic Committee. Dignity, honor and justice don’t really come into it. Not sure about bravery.
that’s the point- according to the IOC, the olympic games have everything to do with those values.. let me explain my point:
from IOC presidents speech two days ago during the opening ceremony-
“our founder, as he developed the framework for the modern Olympic Movement at the close of the 19th century. The values that inspired de Coubertin will come to life over the next 17 days as the world’s best athletes comepte in a spirit of friendship, respect and fair play.”
“Now you have a chance to become true Olympians. That** honor **is determined not by whether you win, but by how you compete. Character counts far more than medals.”
"Respect you opponents. Remember that you are all role models. If you do that, you will inspire a generation.
and if that isn’t enough-
from the IOC website- it’s roles are:
“To act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;”
“To oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes;”
any way I think it is clear where those values should be.. further more, my point is that if those in the IOC are with any values they know what should be done.
bravery- it takes some bravery to make the right thing even though 20 countries will boycott the games and he will probably won’t be elected again…
The IOC has long been guilty of extreme cowardice and made very questionable political decisions.
For example, during the opening ceremonies of 2012, you’ll notice that the Macedonian delegation were not allowed to call themselves that the Republic of Macedonia but instead were introduced as The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and entered holding aloft a sign describing themselves as that. This was done so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of the Greeks.
Similarly, Taiwan was instead introduced as “Chinese Taipei” so as not to piss of the PRC.
In some ways, I suppose you could argue the Israelis were lucky they weren’t told “Okay, you want to be at the Olympics? Fine, but you have to enter holding aloft a sign referring to yourselves as 'The Zionist Entity Currently Occupying Palestine”.
Offend
well you are right, beside on important fact- Palestine has it’s own delegation even though such a country doesn’t formally exist, so they can’t really deny it from Israel after giving the Palestinians this right.
but you are right - this is exactly what the BBC did in it’s Olympic countries review:
Palestine, although doesn’t exist was written with east Jerusalem written as it’s capital while Israel had no capital at all although there is no question even with Arabs that at least west Jerusalem belongs to Israelis.
if the BBC weren’t known for their bias it could be almost funny.
I stand corrected. Jibril Rajoub, chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee thinks a moment silence for the murdered athletes would be racism, and that’s probably a little more stupid on the stupid scale. (Palestinians welcome IOC’s rejection of moment of silence)
Also in the news: IOC agree to “separation barrier” setting the pure Lebanese team apart from the dirty Jews of the Israeli team. (Lebanese Olympic Team Demands Barrier Separation From Israel Squad)
Jesus Christ (okay, maybe a poor choice of words). Tell them they can fucking go home.
What you have to understand, RNATB, is that anti-Israeli bigotry is, if not mainstream, at least acceptable in certain circles. I mean, seriously, look at what the opening ceremony did contain:
The IOC is obviously playing politics, and their refusal to give a moment of silence to the Israeli team which was butchered is, solely, because they were Israelis. There’s no cogent rhyme or reason behind it other than that lots of people don’t like Israelis, and the IOC is, if not endorsing, at least condoning that position. Officially.
I don’t think the UK memorials are necessarily evidence of that. I mean, the Games are in the UK. Seb Coe would have told the IOC to get fucked if they told the organizers they couldn’t do a 7/7 memorial.
All that being said, I’m willing to concede that it does look like a political decision at this point (not to include a moment of silence for the Munich victims in the opening ceremony).
Yes, but having a moment of silence for terrorism victims who simply happened to be British but who had nothing to do with the Olympics, and refusing to do the same for Olympic who were murdered at the Olympics itself, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The issue is that one group of victims were Israelis, and the others weren’t.
Not necessarily. Lebanon could just as easily be called a “Christian country” as a “Muslim country” and I’m sure many members of the Lebanese Judo team are Christians.
What did they do in 1992 to commemorate the 20th anniversary? I don’t remember that they did anything, which doesn’t mean that they didn’t do anything, it just may mean that my memory is fading fast.
If they didn’t do anything 20 years ago, and no one noticed or cared, why get upset about it now? If they did do something 20 years ago, then do the same thing again.