The shame of non-remembrance- 1976 and 2012

By Joel Goldenberg, August 22nd, 2012

The scenario is familiar - Israel asks the International Olympic Committee to do something during the upcoming Summer Olympics to memorialize the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were taken hostage and then killed by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The IOC refuses to have some sort of public, televised memorialization, such as a moment of silence, and communities around the world condemn the decision and hold their own ceremonies instead.
This happened in Montreal in 2012, when community leaders gathered at Federation CJA headquarters to criticize the IOC and hold a moment of silence.
And a memorial also took place in 1976. Israel unsuccessfully lobbied for a remembrance during the Summer Olympics in Montreal, when memories of the massacre were still quite fresh.
That year, an actual committee was formed to hold a local ceremony - The Canadian Committee to Memorialize the Eleven Israeli Athletes Slain at the Munich Olympics. The one-hour event was held July 12, 1976 at Westmount's Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue and featured appearances by then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who quoted psalms from the Bible, and then-Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa.
The committee organizing the event was headed by Allan Bronfman and Rabbi Gunther Plaut presided. The solemn event included the lowering of Israeli flags by 11 youngsters - symbolizing each of those killed, and a memorial service.
As a Suburban ad indicated, quite an impressive group took active part in the ceremony, aside from the prominent politicians.
“Athletes from Israel and other delegations to the 21st Olympiad, as well as leading public personalities, religious leaders of all denominations and relatives of the victims will participate,” the ad said.
The dedication of the Montreal community - 36 years ago and now - is and was laudable. And the IOC's stubbornness to place remembrance out of public view remains eternally shameful.