Courage to continue
ANKIE Spitzer, the widow of Andre Spitzer, one of the 11 Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, was overjoyed on Tuesday night to hear that The Australian Jewish News had forwarded more than 1000 letters from readers to the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), urging him to hold a minute’s silence at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games in memory of the murdered athletes.
Among the signatories were Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and state Premiers Ted Baillieu and Barry O’Farrell.
“It makes me feel wonderful, beyond words,” Spitzer told The AJN.
“For 40 years we have asked the international committee to honour the memory of our fathers and sons and they have had all sorts of lame excuses, but Ilana Romano [widow of another slain Israeli Olympian] and I have worked hard together.
“To know we have the support of a Jewish community on the other side of the globe, it gives us the courage not to give up.
“It’s not July 27 yet,” she said, referring to the date of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in London.
Spitzer said she was also touched that the Australian Parliament voted unanimously last month to urge the IOC to hold a minute’s silence.
Though the Olympic committee has so far rejected requests to honour the slain athletes at the opening ceremony, a memorial organised by the Israeli Olympic Committee and the families of the victims is set to take place on August 6 in London at the Guildhall.
“It’s a really beautiful hall, but I could not care less,” said Spitzer. “It’s not in the Olympic Village where they were killed.”
Spitzer, who is now 66, and was 26 when her husband was murdered, said she and Romano will continue to campaign for the Olympic committee to honour their loved ones for as long as they can.
“If we cannot continue, then our children will continue after we are gone,”she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by the head of the Israeli Olympic Committee, Efraim Zinger.
“We have been trying for years to convince the IOC to acknowledge the 11 athletes who were murdered, as victims of the Olympic movement. The fact that they were Israeli is a diversion.
“It’s the moral obligation of the Olympic movement to find a proper way to remember them. All of the support from Australia will help.”
REPORT by Gil Shefler and Joshua Levi
PHOTO of Ankie Spitzer
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