"...cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart." (Shakespeare)

.....There has been a controversy in the media throughout the Olympics in London that   is all about a "moment of silence" to precede the Opening Ceremony as a remembrance of the murder of Israeli athletes. The Munich massacre is is an informal name for an attack that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria, in southern West Germany, when eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September.  During a failed rescue attempt,  five of the eight assassins were killed by German police, and the three others were taken prisoner.  However, they were released by Germany when Black September hijacked a Lufthansa aircraft.  Israel responded to their release by systematically tracking them down and killed by special forces.  However, and unfortunately, the Israeli operations killed one innocent in Norway and four passersby in Lebanon, with 18 others injured when the final assassin was killed.

.....A cousin of mine is an ardent, almost fierce, defender of Israel, and he is angry at the IOC because of their reluctance to have ordered a moment of silence for the fallen athletes on the 40th anniversary of their murders.  But he is only one of many, especially in the media who thought the IOC ought to have agreed to it.  I, for one, though Jewish and American do not believe that a moment of silence would have been an appropriate opening to cast, even a brief pall, over the Opening Ceremonies that are a visual cinnity of the celebration of youth and joy.  That is what the Olympics is, and ought to be.  There most certainly would be opportunities enough for the Israeli Olympic team to have a moment of silence, even while standing after they marched into the Stadium.  Of course, I admit that I might be biased because I was an athlete and a coach for many years, and I would not like a moment of silence of reminiscence before a game.