Refusing to Commemorate Munich, Ctd

Despite mounting pressure, the IOC still refuses to set aside a minute's silence for the victims of the Munich massacre. On Monday, I agreed with Tablet's Deborah Lipstadt that the massacre is, fundamentally, a non-political issue and should be commemorated at the 2012 Games, but balked at the accusation of anti-semitism or anti-semitic sentiment. The IOC maintains that it does not wish to involve itself in politics, which seems like a weak excuse. Paul Mirengoff expresses my view better than I could:

The comparison to 9/11 is highly instructive. The 9/11 attacks were political, and it is possible to argue that those who conceived and executed the attacks had colorable political grievances. But it is not possible for civilized people to argue that the grievances justified the attacks. Thus, it was not “political” to have a moment of observance for the victims. By deeming “political” a moment of observance for those murdered at the 1972 Olympics, the IOC implicitly takes the position that there is a plausible political argument that would justify the murders.