The Palestinian Authority (PA) thanked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for refusing to hold a moment of silence during today's opening ceremonies in London in honor of the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich massacre, the Jerusalem Post reports.
"Sports is a bridge for love, connection and relaying peace between peoples. It should not be a factor for separation and spreading racism between peoples," said Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestine Olympic Committee.
Rajoub was not the only PA official who praised Rogge's controversial decision. A senior PA official said Palestinians repudiate "Israel's attempts to exploit the Olympic Games for propaganda purposes."
During the second week of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, terrorists from a group called Black September, a wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), murdered 11 Israeli athletes. It was a terrorist attack and massacre of unarmed athletes inside the Olympic Village.
But the PA's daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida only refers to this terrorist attack as "the Munich Operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972," Palestinian Media Watch reports.
Praising the IOC's decision to ignore the 40th anniversary of a terrorist attack fits the PA's policy of glorifying terrorists as heroes. In August 2010, the PA daily hailed one of the massacre's mastermind, Amin Al-Hindi, as a hero.
"Everyone knows that Amin Al-Hindi was one of the stars who sparkled at one of the stormiest points on the international level - the operation that was carried out at the [Olympics] sports stadium in Munich, Germany, in 1972. That was just one of many shining stations," Palestinian Media Watch reported.
Check out other examples of the PA's consistent policy of terror glorification here and here.