President Isaac Herzog: “Yesterday’s awful terror attack in Holon, in which Shulamit Rachel Ovadia, an elderly woman, a family woman, was shockingly murdered by a Palestinian terrorist comes from the same dark hatred of the depraved murderers at Munich. The same blind, awful hatred that we will not allow to win. I extend my deepest condolences to Shulamit’s family and loved ones. The State of Israel will continue to defend its citizens with uncompromising might, and I support the security forces doing so day and night.”
President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog attended an event today marking the fiftieth anniversary of the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Culture and Sports Minister Hili Tropper, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, National Olympic Committee of Israel President Yael Arad, victims' families, and athletes also attended.
President Herzog began his remarks, saying: “I shall never forget the tears that welled up in our eyes, the grief, the gloom, and the angst that engulfed an entire country when the so-called ‘Cheerful Games’ became the darkest nadir in the history of world sports. This was the moment the Olympic torch was snuffed and the five-ringed flag was smeared with blood.”
The President continued: “The eleven athletes, of blessed memory, went to Germany fifty years ago in the name of the spirit of sports, the spirit of fraternity between nations and between states. They were brutally murdered in cold blood by a Palestinian terror organization just because they were Jews; just because they were Israelis. Their memory demands that we all reaffirm: the war on terror, everywhere and always, must be fought with unity, determination, and assertiveness.”
In his speech, the President addressed yesterday’s terror attack, in which Shulamit Rachel Ovadia was murdered, and said: “Yesterday’s awful terror attack in Holon, in which Shulamit Rachel Ovadia, an elderly woman, a family woman, was shockingly murdered by a Palestinian terrorist comes from the same dark hatred of the depraved murderers at Munich. The same blind, awful hatred that we will not allow to win. I extend my deepest condolences to Shulamit’s family and loved ones. The State of Israel will continue to defend its citizens with uncompromising might, and I support the security forces doing so day and night.”
The President concluded: “For us, the massacre of the eleven athletes has always been a national disaster. But the years that have passed, and your struggle, dear families—for memory, for commemoration, for justice!—proved above all else that this was a global tragedy. A tragedy that underscores for us, time and again, that sports have no more polar opposite than terror, and terror has no more polar opposite than the spirit of sportsmanship. “I thank you, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, for your commitment to ensuring that the world never forget the Munich massacre. And I call on the International Olympic Committee to make the commemoration of the eleven murdered athletes a fixed feature of every Olympic Games, from generation to generation.
“Today’s ceremony, here in Israel, reflects the State of Israel’s commitment to the memory of the eleven athletes. Since those awful days fifty years ago, this painful memory has been mellowed with pride, as Israeli athletes realized the dreams of the victims and won, and continue to win, more and more Olympic medals, waving our flag high. This abundance of medals is the victory of the eleven athletes; your victory, dear families; and the victory of the human spirit and of the mighty Israeli spirit. May the memories of the eleven athletes, victims of the Munich massacre, be preserved in our hearts forevermore.”
