The #MunichMassacre Shattered my Innocence
50 years today, the reality was thrust upon me that as a Jew, I had a target on my back. I was only 11 years old, but the message of the Munich Massacre was received loud and clear.
As a child, I was aware that Jews were persecuted by the Nazis (though the full horrors had yet to be revealed, and as a middle-class white-presenting child growing up in California, the full horrors could never be truly understood).
I had naively assumed Jew-hate was in the past, because what rational people could hate another group because of their race, religion or peoplehood? 50 years ago, that all changed and I realized how naive I was.
As Jews, we could be hunted down for antisemitism dressed up as a distortion of Palestinian nationalism. Even as an 11 year old, I wasn’t fooled.
I’m very sorry to say that the years since have not proven me wrong.
I’d like to pretend that I’m bewildered by why there is so much blowback about observing a minute of silence at every #Olympics opening ceremony to honor the #MunichMassacre victims.
One minute every four years to honor the 11 murdered Israeli athletes and German policeman doesn’t seem onerous. But then again, in order to commemorate antisemitic terrorism, by definition one must admit it exists.