1972 Munich survivors back Kiwi team committing for Delhi CWG
Auckland:Two survivors of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack,
which claimed the lives of 11 Israeli team members, have backed the New Zealand team for committing to the Delhi Commonwealth Games. Shaul Ladany and Dan Alon,
who were among five Israeli athletes to escape the bloodbath, spoke out as new
terror warnings were issued ahead of Sunday’s opening ceremony in the Indian capital.
“My advice to New Zealand athletes would be not to pull out... never. Don’t
let them satisfy themselves with the victory of terrorism if a sports event is
cancelled or in any other way disturbed,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Ladany, as saying.
“What is the purpose of terrorism? First, that it should hurt you. Many times
they do it against our way of life. Sport is our way of life. I don’t believe
any society in the world should let terrorism disturb how it lives,” he added.
Alon, who was a fencing medal hope at the Munich Games, shared Ladany’s views.
“If you don’t do it, then you let them [terrorists] win. It was a shock, I couldn’t
understand why they [the terrorists] would choose such a place. The Olympic Games
was always a symbol of peace,” Alon said. “The most important thing is that people
know about this and do everything to prevent it ever happening. It is like the
Holocaust,” he added. During the 1972 Olympics, members of the Israeli team were
taken hostage and eventually murdered by Palestinian terrorist group ‘Black September’.
By the end of the ordeal, the terrorists had killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches
and one West German police officer. Five of the eight members of Black September
were killed by police officers during a failed rescue attempt.
