Opinion The hierarchy of bereavement did not pass over the victims of Munich Israel today

These days mark the 50th anniversary of the murder in Munich, where Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes in cold blood.

A terrorist event that was covered in the world media and created a wide echo, the waves of which are felt to this day.

But the 11 athletes are considered martyrs of hostilities and not martyrs of Israel's systems.

Why?

It is true that there were civilians when they went to the Olympics, but the envoys of the state - such as ambassadors and diplomats are considered - who are murdered, heaven forbid, are counted as martyrs of Israel's systems.

Thus, for example, the ambassador to the United Kingdom Shlomo Argov, who was assassinated in 1982 and who died of his wounds in 2003, appears on the "Yizkor" website of the Ministry of Defense as a space for Israeli systems.

As a civilian, he is buried in Givat Shaul, and there is no mention of a military rank or any other military detail on the site.

Only the fact that he was an official envoy of the State of Israel gave him the right to be an "Israeli system space" and to be immortalized as such by the Ministry of Defense.

If so, isn't it clear that the athletes who were murdered in Munich were official representatives of the State of Israel?

Didn't they march in the opening ceremony under the "Israel" sign, and wave the Israeli flag in front of the crowd and the athletes of the world?

Didn't they go out on a state delegation, to represent the state and achieve achievements for it?

In later Olympics, we remember sports ministers who went up to the winners' podium to hug and take pictures with medal-winning athletes.

Limor Livnat went up to the podium with Gal Friedman to receive a gold medal, Sports Minister Miri Regev headed a delegation to the Olympics in Brazil as an official representative.

The absurdity is that if, God forbid, one of the ministers or MKs was injured who jumped to embrace an athlete, he would be a victim of Israel's systems, and the athletes would be victims of hostilities.

Some say that a terrorist attack is a failure of the state to protect its citizens, and therefore the state seeks to humiliate the victims and hide the event and its results.

But an attack like the one in Munich is the fault of another government and another country.

Today we know that the Germans made every possible mistake in managing the crisis, and even refused an offer of Israeli help.

We are proud of the athletes and the medals they collect in the Olympics.

Today, official delegations are accompanied by state security guards.

Today, awareness is greater, and it's a good thing.

It is a shame that the athletes who were murdered in Munich only because of being Jewish and Israeli do not receive the respect that the state can give them and are not considered martyrs of Israel's systems.

Being athletes and representatives of Israel did not overcome the hierarchy of bereavement and they remained victims of hostilities only.

The time has come for someone in Israel, in the Olympic Committee or the Ministry of Sports, to correct the injustice of the anniversary and define the athletes who were murdered in Munich as victims of the Israeli system.

The writer is a bereaved father, one of the leaders of the struggle to abolish the hierarchy in bereavement

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