http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158307Ayalon Slams PA as 'Racist' for Olympics Stance
Is a moment of silence for 11 Israeli Olympians slain in Munich in 1972 'racism'? Deputy FM Danny Ayalon says no, but opposing it is!
Gabe Kahn
7/26/2012
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon slammed the Palestinian Authority for terming a moment of silence during the Olympics for Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 games in Munich as "racist."
"No, the murder of Israelis because they are Israelis is racist, not the request to dignify and honor them," Ayalon wrote on Facebook. "On the other hand, Palestinian Authority media refers to Munich terrorists as 'stars' whose path should be followed."
"It is perhaps further indicative that a Palestinian Authority official refers to the cold-blooded murder of innocent Olympic athletes the 'Munich Operation,'" he continued.
"Now, more than ever, there needs to be a minute silence, not just to honor the eleven slain Israeli athletes but also to demonstrate opposition to those who laud murderers as heroes and call on others to follow suit."
Ayalon was responding to a letter from Palestinian Olympic Committee chairman Jibril Rajoub to Olympics officials quoted in the Arabic-language al-Hayat al-Jadida on Wednesday, that was exposed by Palestinian Media Watch.
"Sports are meant for peace, not for racism... Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading of peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them [nations]," Rajoub reportedly wrote of the proposed moment of silence.
According to Palestinian Media Watch, Rajoub did not refer to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by at the Munich Olympics in 1972 as terror, which was in line with Ramallah's daily refusal to disavow the infamous terror massacre.
Instead, Rajoub described it as "the Munich Operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972," in his letter complimenting the decision by Olympics chairman Jaques Rogge not to honor Israel's request.
"He said that his position is not to politicize sports, and his determination to implement the International Olympic Charter represents a victory for freedom in sports," Rajoub wrote.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, then a close advisor to late PLO arch-terrorist Yassir Arafat, raised funds for the notorious Black September splinter group to underwrite the Mumich Massacre.
"What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter," Abbas said of Amin al-Hindi, who planned the 1972 Olympics attack, when he died in 2010.
The official PA daily also lionized the planner of the Munich Massacre.
"Everyone knows that Amin Al-Hindi was one of the stars who sparkled at one of the stormiest points on the international level," it wrote of al-Hindi. "The operation that was carried out at the [Olympics] sports stadium in Munich, Germany, in 1972. That was just one of many shining stations."