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Remembered Forever

Memorial to Munich victims becomes rally
against Olympic terrorism.

RONI B. ROBBINS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

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sraeli Olympic marksman
Guy Starik sat in the gather-
ing dusk Sunday, reflecting on
the newly unveiled memori-
al to 11 of his countrymen mur-
dered at another Olympics 24
years ago.
"I came to have a look at it
alone," he said, teary eyed. Mr.
Starik was 7 years old when
Palestinian terrorists murdered
Israeli athletes and coaches at
the 1972 games in Munich. Yet,
the stone sculpture with its eter-
nal flame burning below five
Olympic rings touched something
deep inside him.
"In Israel, there are always
those 11 athletes," he said be-
tween drags on a cigarette. Any
mention of the Olympics there
automatically includes reference
to the massacre. "No one will ever
forget it."
Minutes earlier, some 600 At-
lanta Jews, members of the in-
ternational media and Olympic
and government officials gath-

bystanders died when a bomb ex-
ploded in Centennial Olympic
Park. Two Israeli citizens were
among the more than 100 in-
jured.
Sunday's commemoration also
provided a forum for the families
of the Munich victims and other
Jews to call for public recognition
of the massacre before the At-
lanta. Games, which end Sunday.
And it gave some Palestinians a
chance to express their condo-
lences to the Israelis in a
poignant demonstration of good-
will.
Tragic ironies abounded. The
Atlanta bombing occurred
around the same time in the
Olympics as the Munich mas-
sacre — the start of the second
week of competition, Federation
President Steve Selig told the
crowd.
"It is being said that Friday's
act of violence and terror has de-
stroyed the innocence of the
Olympic Games — but the 14

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ered outside the entrance Centennial Park, children of the Munich
to the Atlanta Jewish the scene of the 11 are here tonight to tell
explosion in
us that the innocence
Federation's Selig Center
Atlanta.
was lost long ago," he
for the private dedication
said.
of the three-foot sculp-
The difference between the
ture.
As fate would have it, the cer- Munich and Atlanta bombings
emony became not only a tribute was that Palestinian gunmen
to the slain Israelis, but to the had a specific target in mind in
victims of more recent Olympic
1972, said Rabbi Arnold Good-
terrorism. Two nights earlier, two man of Ahavath Achim Syna-
gogue.
Roni Robins writes for our sister
"By contrast, the victims in
paper, the Atlanta Jewish
Centennial Park just happened

Times.

