Petition Started to Honor Israelis Slain in Munich

The wife of an Israeli athlete murdered in Munich in 1972 has started an online petition after Olympics officials repeatedly rejected her requests for a minute of silence at this summer's games.

Ankie Spitzer's husband, Andrei, a fencing coach, was one of the 11 victims of the Palestinian group Black September during the 1972 Olympics. She and other surviving family members, along with officials from across the world, sought to open the London Games — which marks the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre — with a moment of silence, a request denied by the the International Olympic Committee.

“Silence is a fitting tribute for athletes who lost their lives on the Olympic stage,” Spitzer says in a video on her Change.org petition. “Silence contains no statements, assumptions or beliefs and requires no understanding of language to interpret.”

Officials are apparently concerned the memorial could cause a political rift at the Olympics, according to the Huffington Post.

Another petition, at remembermunich.org, is endorsed by New York elected officials.