The Olympics
are a little microcosm of the world. The entire 2012 event is
hostile to Israel. We can start with Israel's capital,
Jerusalem. It was handed over to "Palestine" at the start of the
Olympics. Then the International Olympic Committee (IOC) moved
Jerusalem to her proper place -- Israel -- but then got cold
feet! To avoid all conflict, the IOC removed the name of the
capitals of all
participating nations so they could be seen as
politically correct.
The Jerusalem
controversy is not new. Recently the U.S. State Department said
the very same thing as the IOC; that is, that they would not
come out and flatly state that Jerusalem is Israel's capital.
The spokesperson dodged the question over and over. I even
played the clip on my radio program that week. It's a position
echoed by a majority of modern governments and most nations,
including the U.S., who place their embassy in Tel Aviv.
So the IOC was
temporarily fine with recognizing a capital in the wrong
location and is also fine with recognizing a nation that doesn't
exist -- Palestine. This nation that really isn't a nation
joined the Olympics in 1996 and they proudly march in the
procession of nations, much to the protests of the Israelis.
Besides, who cares if Israel is objecting? In the eyes of most,
she's an apartheid-promoting reckless state.
The Olympic
Games are meant to transcend politics. The creator of the sports
festival -- the ancient Greeks -- would actually suspend wars
for the event. The IOC today is trying to make a statement
that politics and sports actually
do mix. We can all
get along in the Olympic village -- even though such a delusion
was brutally broken in 1972.
The Munich
massacre is an informal name for an attack that occurred during
the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Eleven members of
the Israeli athletic team were killed when they were taken
hostage by the Palestinian terror group known as Black
September. The financier of that massacre was the current
president of the Palestinian Authority, Holocaust denier Mahmoud
Abbas. Sadly, his photo is proudly displayed at the London
Olympics as one of the dignified "heads of state."
Jordan's King
Hussein was the only Arab leader in the world to condemn that
attack in September of 1972.
This year
Israel made an appeal for a minute of silence to commemorate the
murder of their eleven athletes four decades ago.
It fell on deaf ears!
British Prime
Minister, David Cameron, backed the IOC's decision to not
recogngize the tragedy. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
spoke up on behalf of the widows of some of the slain Israeli
athletes who pleaded for a public acknowledgement of the
slaughter.
The world
would have moved on and collectively forgotten that tragedy had
Steven Spielberg not made the 2005 film "Munich." While he
accurately captured the drama of the murders, he distorted the
rest of the film. He portrayed the hired Israeli assassin of the
killers as having tremendous guilt over his assignment. He sank
further and further into a pathological mental state after he
killed each of the remaining Islamic perpetrators. Thankfully,
most movie critics nailed Spielberg for this.
Now the
Israeli Mossad fears a possible "London massacre" at this year's
Olympics.
London security forces were in a panic as the games began.
Israel's 38 athletes are training under tight security at the
Olympic Village and British forces have even placed
surface-to-surface missiles at six locations.
Whoever would
have thought that a nation smaller than a postage stamp placed
on a giant globe could cause such alarming events and reactions?
And that troubling city to which Jesus will return to rule and
reign -- Jerusalem -- has become that
prophesied burdensome stone once again.
Jan Markell
You may pass
on these items or have people sign up on
our Web site. You can access our radio programming from the
last three years on
Radio Archives. Also see the Web site for other options to
catch the program, "Understanding the Times."