.S. Senate Passes Gillibrand-Rubio Resolution Calling for One Minute of Silence At The 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony to Recognize the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics Terrorist Attack

Press Release

U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) today announced passage of their Senate resolution urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to observe one minute of silence during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games to recognize the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack which killed 11 athletes and coaches from the Israeli Olympic Team. The Senators' bipartisan resolution, which is co-sponsored by more than thirty Senators, comes after the IOC rejected proposals from the Israeli government and Congress members Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel to hold a moment of silence at this summer's games.

"The Munich tragedy was an outrageous attack against innocent athletes and against the unifying spirit of the Olympics," said Senator Gillibrand. "Observing a moment of silence at the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, when the world's attention is focused on this symbol of international cooperation and peace, would pay tribute to the slain athletes and coaches and would send a powerful message of unity in the fight against terrorism."

"The Olympic movement is a celebration of athletic excellence, sportsmanship and spirited international competition, yet forty years ago in Munich, terrorists shocked the world by killing innocent members of the Israeli team," said Senator Rubio. "As the London Summer Olympics begin next month, we should use the occasion of the Opening Ceremony to pay tribute to the fallen athletes and coaches and deliver a united message against terrorism."

On September 5th, 1972, Palestinian terrorist group called Black September broke into the Munich Olympic village, killed an Israeli athlete and coach, and took nine other athletes and coaches hostage. A German police officer was killed and the nine hostages were murdered during a rescue attempt.

Senators Gillibrand and Rubio proposed a resolution that calls on both the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Senate to observe one minute of silence to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack, remember those who lost their lives and reject and repudiate terrorism as antithetical to the Olympic goal of peaceful competition.

Co-sponsors of the resolution include Senators Jeff Blumenthal (D-NM), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), James Inhofe (R-OK), Herb Kohl (D-WI), James Risch (R-ID), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Scott Brown (R-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Carl Levin (D-MI), Mark Begich (D-AK), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Robert Casey (D-PA), and John Boozman (R-AR).

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