“There are still those who see the massacre of sportsmen as a heroic act,” warned President Reuven Rivlin prior to boarding a plane Tuesday evening for a trip to Germany to dedicate a memorial to the Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Rivlin was invited to inaugurate the memorial by German President Frank-Walter Stienmeier, who together with Minister-President of Bavaria Horst Seehofer — who initiated the event — will accompany Israel’s president.
It has been 45 years since 11 Israeli Olympians and trainers were murdered by the operatives of the Black September terrorist organization at the Olympic Village in Munich.
Black September was the military wing of the Fatah faction, founded in 1971 and secretly receiving its instructions from the Fatah security apparatus.
In addition to having carried out the 1972 massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Black September carried out numerous other attacks as well. But it was the current leader of the Palestinian Authority – Mahmoud Abbas, whose nom de guerre is to this day ‘Abu Mazen’ – who provided the financing for the Munich Massacre, according to Israeli attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin – the Israel Law Center.
It was Abu Mazen – Mahmoud Abbas – who together with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat kissed PLO operative Mohammed Daoud Oudeh — Abu Daoud – and wished him luck as he organized the Munich attack, Daoud himself revealed in a film called “One Day in September.” Daoud said that Abu Mazen provided the funds to carry out the Munich Massacre by Black September.
“Forty-five years after the massacre, international terrorism continues to threaten and strike innocent civilians. There are still those who see the massacre of the sportsmen as an heroic act,” President Rivlin warned as he prepared for departure Tuesday evening.
“The center which we will inaugurate must carry a message for the whole world: There can be no apologizing for terror. Terror must be condemned unequivocally, everywhere. In Barcelona, in London, in Paris, in Berlin, in Jerusalem, everywhere. We, the international community, must stand untied in the struggle against terror, determined to fight and defeat it.”
At the ceremony representatives of the bereaved families will unveil a memorial wall, and after a minute’s silence in memory of the victims, Ilona Romano, widow of victim Yossef Romano will address the event.
President Rivlin will address the memorial ceremony to the victims of the Munich attack. Also speaking will be President of Germany, Minister-President of Bavaria, the Mayor of Munich, and President of the International Olympic Community, and Ankie Spitzer, widow of victim Andre Spitzer.
In addition, President and First Lady Rivlin will visit the Dachau Concentration Camp, accompanied by the President and First Lady of Germany, and the Minister-President and First Lady of Bavaria, the president of the Jewish Community in Bavaria, and head of the German Jewish community.