Painful Anniversary. Families of Munich Olympics victims plan to boycott 50 year memorial service over compensation

Families of the Israeli athletes killed at the 1972 Summer Olympics have planned to boycott a ceremony planned for the 50-year anniversary of the Munich Games.

A ceremony is planned to take place in Munich in September, with Israeli President Isaac Herzog scheduled to attend. The call for a boycott revolves around a dispute with the German government over victims’ compensation.

“We expect President Herzog to also announce, immediately, that he is not coming,” Ankie Spitzer told The New York Times in comments published Wednesday. Her late husband, Andrei Spitzer, was the coach of the Israeli fencing team and was among the 11 Israelis killed at the Munich Games.

“If the families don’t travel, he shouldn’t travel either because if he is there, even to lay a wreath, it will legitimize this cruel German behavior,” she added.

Spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit, noted that Germany regretted the families decision but was committed to conducting a comprehensive review of the incident to further discuss “recognition payments” to the relatives.

“Of course, we very much regret the decision by the relatives to cancel their attendance at the event,” he told reporters in Berlin. “The government hopes that a way will be found so the relatives can decide to attend the memorial event on Sept. 5 after all.”

On September 5, 1972, the Palestinian militant group, Black September entered the Olympic Village in Munich and took 11 Israelis hostage. Their goal was to force the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel along with two members held in West Germany.

Many of the victims’ relatives have criticized Germany for its handling of the siege. They continue to accuse Germany of failing to properly secure the athletes village and refusing Israeli help in a botched rescue operation which resulted in the killing of the 11 Israeli athletes.

Despite the government’s apology and the release of previously sealed archives, the relatives of the victims still considered that the compensation offered by Germany, reportedly around 5 million euros was ‘an insult.’

“I don’t want some euros to be thrown in my direction. We are not going to accept that,” Ankie Spitzer, spokesperson for the families, told Reuters Television. The sums under discussion have not been disclosed.

“We are not going to the memorial ceremony until Germany takes real, responsibility, not only by words,” added Spitzer, whose husband was killed in the attack.

According to the Times of Israel, Germany made payments of around 2 million euros in 1972 to the relatives of the victims and another 3 million euros in 2002 to the still surviving relatives.

Although Hebestreit refused to comment on the exact amount of compensation the government was willing to offer, according to recent German media reports, the government is reportedly prepared to double that amount.