To the International Olympic Committee, "Jewish blood is cheap"

Or so went the headline just a week-and-a-half ago, when noted historian Deborah Lipstadt (who knows a thing or two about antisemitism) criticized the IOC for making all manner of excuses to avoid giving some long overdue respect to 11 Israeli participants in the 1972 Munich Olympics who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. As Lipstadt wrote:

Why the IOC refusal? The Olympic Committee’s official explanation is that the games are apolitical. The families were repeatedly told by long-time IOC President Juan Samaranch that the Olympic movement avoided political issues. He seemed to have forgotten that at the 1996 opening ceremony he spoke about the Bosnian war. Politics were also present at the 2002 games, which opened with a minute of silence for the victims of 9/11.

Very interesting, yes? It's somehow "political" to pay respect -- beyond insincere lip service -- to Olympic athletes who were murdered by terrorists in the Olympic Village, but not political to... um... uh... delve into politics that don't ostensibly have to do with the Olympics.

Even more interesting: tonight, during the 2012 London Olympics' Opening Ceremonies, there were moments of silence for fallen soldiers (because there's nothing political about the Iraq War, right?) and the victims of another terrorist attack, this one in London on July 7, 2005. Neither of which had anything to do with the Olympics either, though you might quibble on the latter -- it was just the day before that London was awarded these Games, though it doesn't take much intelligence to figure out that London would have been attacked that day no matter which city was announced as the host.

To be clear, I don't have any problem with the moments of silence the IOC has held. It seems to me that all of the groups they've recognized with moments of silence have deserved that respect. What troubles me is that the one group they refuse to recognize is the one group of victims of terrorism who were murdered on their watch, in no small part due to their shoddy security.

But I also have some sympathy for the argument that the Games should be free of politics, that they should be about bringing people together from all nations, setting aside any conflicts, and celebrating all that is good about sports.

So I'm left to wonder again why it is that the IOC thinks it's too "political" to commemorate Israeli athletes murdered at the Olympics, in the Olympic Village, but somehow a "reasonable accommodation" to do this:

The Lebanese judo team at the 2012 London Olympics refused to practice next to the Israeli one on Friday afternoon, and a makeshift barrier was erected to split their gym into two halves...

Organizers accepted the Lebanese coach’s demand to separate the teams, erecting a barrier so that the Lebanese team wouldn’t see the Israeli one.

Are we all clear on that? It's too "political" to commemorate Olympic athletes murdered at the Olympics, in the Olympic Village by terrorists, but it's a "reasonable accommodation" to set aside the Olympic creed of not being political, of bringing athletes of all nations together to compete, of protecting the delicate eyes of the Lebanese judokas from having to recognize the existence of Israelis.

At a minimum, that's hypocrisy. And it sure seems like cowardice, that Jacques Rogge, the head of the IOC, and his minions are so worried about the "political implications" of acknowledging that Olympic athletes were murdered at the Olympics by terrorists that they can't be bothered to give a damn about the political statement they're so clearly making.

I think Deborah Lipstadt identified that statement quite well:

This was the greatest tragedy to ever occur during the Olympic Games. Yet the IOC has made it quite clear that these victims are not worth 60 seconds. Imagine for a moment that these athletes had been from the United States, Canada, Australia, or even Germany. No one would think twice about commemorating them. But these athletes came from a country and a people who somehow deserve to be victims. Their lost lives are apparently not worth a minute.

Shame on you, Jacques Rogge, and shame on the IOC for sacrificing your proclaimed ideals in favor of antisemitic politics.