commentaries

Yashar Kochaich, Sally! Well said, well written! When the IOC and the world turns its back on its friends, it's simultaneously turning its back on, and a blind eye towards, it enemies!

Being pressured to do something by those who have a special interest is meaningless. Either the IOC decides to something because they want to do it and beleive it is the right thing to do, or it is just a false pretense to appease an alleged constituent by being polically correct - which is always meaningless. The IOC has no responsiblity to have a minute of silence. Do the mulsim terrorists and their suppoters have a responsibilty to do so???

Create your own moment of silence--a grassroots effort. Choose the timing well so that it will coincide but not disrupt the Olympics. Shouldn't be that hard to get the word out. Otherwise by ignoring this approach you become the ones who make it a divisive issue.

Bravo, Ms. Abrams. Your points are well made. This was an anti-Semitic and murderous act whose victims deserve to be remembered at the Olympics with more than a minute of silence. Keep writing and pricking the consciences of sleeping people.

The writer states, "The gesture is a simple but powerful demonstration of solidarity against terrorism." Solidarity against terrorism would have to include many moments of silence for all the victims of Zionism since before and after the establishment of Israel, the theft of Palestinian lands (that still continues), the racist Israeli policies and continual violations of international law and human rights, and the ongoing terrorism against Arabs in the region and anyone who tries to help the Palestinians (remember the flotilla murders, Sally?!). Remember, Israel is the only nation in the region with Nukes--talk about the threat of terrorism! But I'm all for a moment of silence against terrorism as long as it includes more than a few victims from 1972 and brings things up to date.

IOC leadership is hateful, political, and hypocritical. Look at what they did to S. Africa. Out of all the nasty, violent, human rights-depriving nations on earth, the IOC bans S. Africa from competing. China??...Russia??...North Korea??...Cuba??? .................... Welcome one and all!!! ... But S. Africa, you can't come. And now they are showing their anti-Semitism and hatred for Jews. This is why the IOC is nothing but a joke.

"Solidarity against terrorism would have to include many moments of silence for all the victims of Zionism since before and after the establishment of Israel, the theft of Palestinian lands..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The moment of silence is for the terrorism that took place at the olympics, not any other terrorism. The olympics since ancient times have always guaranteed the neutrality and safety of all participants. The IOC failed miserably to protect these innocent athletes, and they are responsible, along with the terrorists, for their deaths. They OWE it to the country of Israel for failing to do their jobs. It's not politics at all. It's just a sad failure on the part of the IOC that those deaths happened.

Why would the IOC - a steaming pile of corruption and perhaps the ultimate example of retrograde political correctness tinged with the hideousness of liberal elitism - ever kowtow to Israel? Given how many drink the Kool-Aid of Palestinian / pro-terrorism / de facto anti-Israel apologetics propagated by the Western academic establishment and actually believe that Israel - the only country in the Middle East where Arabs live peacefully alongside Jews in the only truly democratic and advanced technological nation - are "terrorists." It's bold, shameful, and purposeful ignorance, cloaked in rabid anti-Semitism (any time the term "Zionism" is used it is merely code for "I hate Israel").