The International Olympic Committee has refused to memorialize the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The reason isn’t hard to guess. The images of discord, where athletes from Muslim countries either leave the field, or where officials from Islamic nations bluster at the inappropriateness of such a tribute, would be shameful and disgusting to sane people around the world. Such evil and inhumanity is best kept under wraps if you want to pretend it doesn’t exist.
In some parts of the world, murder remains as fashionable as it was in parts of Germany in 1943.
Enter one gold medal winning American gymnast – Aly Raisman.
Her floor routine was accompanied by the folk song “Hava Nagila.” She said the choice wasn’t intentional, but was quick to add that “the fact it was on the 40th anniversary [of the Munich murders] is special, and winning the gold today means a lot to me. If there had been a moment’s silence, I would have supported it and respected it.”
Watch the video of her routine here.
C.S. Lewis wrote about the ongoing battle between lightness and dark, and that everyone is a participant whether they know it or not. Courageous acts by individual people are necessary to keep the dark at bay, whether a Marine in a desolate Mideast hell, or a gymnast with the courage to say what needs to be said, even if the IOC doesn’t.





Wow. Just spectacular.
Kol ha’kavod bat yisroel.
Never forget. And never hesitate to remind those who prefer to forget.
She did a great job and is proud of her Jewish faith. What a role model.
Well said.
curious
because of the horrid nbc olympic monopoly i was dozing off when aly raisman competed
i stirred a bit when bela was immediately calling for inquiries (another example of biased/p.c. ioc olympic judging [saw tons of it in the boxing])
not knowing of aly raisman’s heritage beforehand yet always cognizant of the ioc’s fabian and antisemitic pulse, i wonder if the low marks was a direct slap in the face of an imagined uppity “jewish american princess”
the immediate change of the score (curiously led to a tie with the romanian girl and to be settled on yet another random tiebreaker rule) even goes further to demonstrate the arbitrary fickleness that has come to dominate the olympic games
good for her but screw the olympics – i’ve had it
Saw this piece linked over at Pam Geller’s site. And saw this great comment on her thread that is worth sharing:
“American exceptionalism — the USA puts up a Gold medal winning team, headed by a Jewish girl. She performs flawlessly the hardest degree of difficulty to win the first Gold medal in floor exercises. Saudi Arabia sends an unprepared blue belt in judo who makes a fuss about her head covering and wearing a black belt to compete and is taken down in 82 seconds, and then called a prostitute by her countrymen. lol”
While part of me celebrates not only Reisman’s gold but also her music and her comments, another part of me longs for a time when these amazing young women don’t need to hold up the sky. Must Resiman become some kind of symbol for Jews? Must Douglas become a symbol for blacks? Part of me understands and part of me wishes we could simply celebrate them for their truly extraordinary achievements as world class athletes.
They are celebrated for that.
National competition is what the games have been about since ancient Greece when each province or city-state sent its champions. So if we want to kvell a little that a Douglas or Reisman can achieve in America at the top of their ability that says something.
The choice of music is not trivial. She could have picked anything and maybe chose this because for her it was a familiar tune. As comfortable as moms tuna casserole. She heard it all her life and every time people danced and clapped like happened here. worked for her that day.
So if she were French or any other Euro, let alone almost anywhere else on the planet, such a choice would have been banned as too overtly religious or ethnic. Yet she and her team did not nead to worry about such things. She is an American.
Thank you for this article. J Christian Adams is an honorable & courageous man his own self.
I salute her use of Hava Negila – and also her amazing performance!
And also Gabby Douglas’s.
Pretty amazing to have either Jewish or black girls in these events, and they were not just there, they won Olympic gold. OMG!
I’m ambivalent about recognition of past tragedies and murders, seems a little like naming the devil.
Of course there’s nothing accidental about the choice of the music, at this point, but it’s a politeness to say so.
Y’know, I just want to add, that any number of black contestants seem just as pleased as punch to be winning medals for America, which is only as it should be but I still carry around the impression that even as late as the LA Olympics, or even later, this was not often the view expressed by black athletes at the international levels. Are we maybe making a little progress?
Back to the gymnastics, these girls are also very young and to have them represent ethnic groups etc is quite the load, just representing the flag on the uniform is plenty and enough.
As a Canadian, I cannot access the video you reference. Boo Hiss to NBC.
lol …don’t blame the evil NBC.
it is their marxist fellow travellers at the CRTC that block the video.
Canadaians media is under marxist control paid for by YOU.