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Widow of Slain Israeli Athlete Decries Shocking Anti-Semitic Act by Britain's Jeremy Corbyn

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JERUSALEM, Israel – As anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head, the widow of an Israel athlete murdered by Palestinian terrorists wants the head of Britain's Labor Party to apologize for laying a wreath at the grave of her husband's killers.

It was an attack that stunned the world. The terrorists stormed the living quarters of the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In the end, a group calling itself "Black September" had murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, among them Ankie Spitzer's late husband, Andre.


Israeli Olympic team murdered at 1972 Munich Olympics, Screen Capture

Fast forward to a 2014 photo of Corbyn standing in Tunisia at the graves of those terrorists, with a wreath in his hands.

"Imagine when an Israeli politician would go and put flowers on the graves of those murderers that killed people in London or in England in a terror attack. How would the British people accept that? They would not accept that, so we don't accept this behavior," his widow said.

Labeled by many for a long time as an anti-Semite, Corbyn admitted he was at the gravesite.

"I was there when the wreaths were laid, that's pretty obvious. There were many others there who witnessed it, and I witnessed many other people laying many wreaths," he said.

Asked specifically if he laid a wreath, Corbyn answered, "I laid one wreath, along with many other people, in memory, as I've said, of all those who died."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Corbyn, saying he deserved "unequivocal condemnation from everyone."

"The laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorist(s) who perpetrated the Munich massacre and his comparison of Israel to the Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone – left, right and everything in between," Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page.

Corbyn fired back in a tweet.

"Netanyahu's claims about my actions and words are false. What deserves unequivocal condemnation is the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces since March, including dozens of children."

The 1972 Munich Olympics were the first time the games were held in Germany since 1936, when they were hosted by Adolph Hitler.

"Israel, which was founded in [19]48 as, among many things, as an attempt for Jews to be able to defend themselves was once again powerless while Jews were being killed in Germany. The historic resonance of that is clear. And that's why still 46 years later, it's still a big issue for Israelis," said journalist and author Anshel Pfeffer.

Some analysts say the Black September group was financed by current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.


Palestinian member of Black September terror cell at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Screen Capture

Spitzer said the apology she wants from Corbyn isn't just for her.

"He doesn't have to come to apologize to me. He should apologize to the victims of terror," she explained. "And that's what he said: he said, 'I want to honor the victims of terror'.

"Where were you? Did you ever come to the graves of my husband or to other terror victims here? We never saw you Mr. Corbyn," she said.

 

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About The Author

Julie Stahl
Julie
Stahl

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN – first as a graduate student in Journalism, then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91, and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. As a correspondent for CBN News, Julie has covered Israel’s wars with Gaza, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, stories on the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and the