Political Quotes

“I stand here today with my colleagues to observe 1 minute of silence on the first day of session since the passage of the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympic terrorist attack that killed 11 athletes and coaches from the Israeli Olympic team. Prior to the extraordinary summer games in London, where so many of our athletes excelled and made our country so proud, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution that I authored with Senator Rubio. With this resolution, which was supported by more than 30 of our colleagues, the Senate called on the International Olympic Committee to hold a moment of silence in London to honor these 11 slain Israeli Olympians. It is regrettable they chose not to. Today, here in the Senate, we right that wrong. The Munich tragedy was an outrageous attack against innocent athletes and against the unifying spirit of the Olympics. Observing a moment of silence at the 2012 Olympic games' opening ceremony, when the world's attention was focused on this symbol of international cooperation and peace, would have sent such a powerful message of unity in our fight against terrorism. On September 5, 1972, a 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 nine hostages were murdered during a rescue attempt.…”