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.
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