Olympics attack victims’ families to boycott German ceremony

By JOSEPH KRAUSS
Associated Press

The families of 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian attackers at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich will not attend a 50-year anniversary ceremony organized by German authorities. They say they deserve more compensation and a fuller reckoning of the tragedy. The decision was announced Thursday. Members of the Palestinian group Black September broke into the Olympic Village, killed two athletes from Israel’s national team and took nine more hostage on Sept. 5, 1972. All nine hostages and a West German police officer died during a rescue attempt by German forces. Relatives of the athletes accuse Germany of failing to secure the Olympic Village, refusing Israeli help and botching the rescue attempt.