The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is personally intervening in the efforts to resolve the crisis that has arisen between the German government and the families of the Israeli athletes who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics, in order to ensure the existence in Munich of a dignified memorial ceremony on the 50th anniversary of the deadly attack.
Steinmeier is trying to formulate creative solutions to go towards the compensation demands of the murdered families.
They outright rejected the German government's offer to pay them an additional sum of ten million euros in addition to the establishment of a joint committee of historians that will examine all aspects of the German conduct surrounding the event of the abduction and murder of the athletes.
The amount demanded by the families of the murdered is 100 million euros.
Steinmeier's intervention came after President Yitzhak Herzog announced that he would not participate in the commemoration ceremony planned by the Germans on the 50th anniversary of the massacre as an expression of support for the decision of the families of the murdered to boycott the event and as a protest against the German government's approach to the compensation issue.
Herzog and Steinmeier are in constant contact regarding this crisis.
Israel's new ambassador to Germany, Ron Proshaur, also announced that he would not participate in the memorial event until a solution to the demands of the murdered families was found.
Steinmeier is considering coming to Israel in the coming days to meet with the families of the murdered athletes and to present new proposals to bridge the gaps between the parties.
The absence of the families of the murdered and of official Israeli representatives at the memorial event will cause serious image damage to Germany.
Steinmeier also came out with a very harsh criticism of the statements of Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen during his visit to Berlin this week, in which he refused to express regret for the attack on the Israeli athletes - which he was a senior partner in preparing - and claimed that Israel is committing a holocaust against the Palestinians.
"The comparisons made by Abu Mazen are completely unacceptable and especially painful since they were said in our capital. Germany recognizes its historical responsibility and stands resolutely by Israel's side," Steinmeier told the Bild daily.
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