Thoughts about the Olympics, past and present

We were sitting in the kitchen at work yesterday, talking about the Israelis winning a gold medal, and one person expressed surprise that this was their first gold. Another commented that the country was still relatively young. I thought, "and small, and has had other things to focus on than athletics, like survival." But what I said was, "yes, and much of their team was wiped out in Munich." I received several blank stares.

I have gotten used to coworkers who think Vietnam and Watergate are history. Who know Gilligan's Island from reruns, and who don't share my taste in music, but I am always caught when something that I consider common shared knowledge brings up puzzled looks. I got the same looks when I talked about Yasser Arafat's past "exploits."

Thinking about this last night, I decided that current history should come with the backstory. Especially when whitewashing something leaves an incomplete picture. After all, Kerry was part of a Swift boat team, and served in Vietnam, no matter who you believe, and Bush was an occasional weekend soldier here in the States.

Protest at the Olympics -- see my post about the Iranian judo athlete -- have always been present, but what happened in Munich was not a protest. Member's of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September infiltrated the Olympic village in Munich in September of 1972, took nine Israeli athletes hostage. 10 escaped, and two were shot in the invasion. The nine who were taken hostage also died at the end of the incident. The games went on that year, and there has never been an official Olympic commemoration of the incident.

As for Yasser Arafat? He was the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the PLO, starting in 1969. The PLO is responsible for at least four plane hijackings, and the Maalot massacre of 1974 when 21 children were killed in the take over of a high school in Israel, among other terrorist activities. Did Arafat ever pull the trigger? I doubt it. Did he condone it? He financed it and he welcomed the perpetrators into his group. Judge for yourself.

Yes, people can change, And he has changed. He no longer says that he denies Israel's right to exist. He no longer says it out loud...