Europe

Home page

Europe

British PM says world must not forget Munich

06 August 2012 21:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday the world must never forget the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre as he attended an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the killings of 11 Israelis, APA reports quoting AFP.

The event at London’s Guildhall is being held after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused an appeal by widows of the victims to hold a minute’s silence at the opening ceremony of the London Games.

Cameron said the killings of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and a West German police officer in the hostage-taking by Palestinian militants was "one of the darkest days in the history of the Olympic Games."

"As the world comes together in London to celebrate the Games and the values it represents, it is right that we should stop and remember the 11 Israeli athletes who so tragically lost their lives when those values came under attack in Munich 40 years ago today," Cameron said.

"It was a truly shocking act of evil. A crime against the Jewish people. A crime against humanity. A crime the world must never forget."

The widows of two of the Israeli athletes attended the event, which was organised by the National Olympic Committee of Israel, the Jewish Committee for the London Games and the Israeli embassy in London.

The two widows, Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, had unsuccessfully campaigned for the anniversary to be marked with a minute’s silence at the opening ceremony, a request rejected by IOC President Jacques Rogge.

A minute’s silence was held instead at the Olympic Village in London for the signing of the Olympic truce on July 24.

Cameron meanwhile said Britain would help track those responsible for a bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver in Bulgaria last month.

"Let me say that we in Britain will do everything we can in helping to hunt down those responsible for that attack," he said.