BERLIN, Sep. 4 (DPA/EP) –
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described this Sunday as “shameful” that it has taken 50 years to reach an agreement for compensation for the victims of the 1972 attack on the Israeli delegation at the Munich Olympics.
“It is really shameful that it has taken 50 years to reach this understanding in recent days,” Steinmeier said at a joint press conference with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, referring to the agreement, announced last Wednesday.
Herzog, who is on an official visit to Germany, highlighted the importance of the agreement reached to compensate the victims of the kidnapping perpetrated by the Palestinian armed organization Black September, which ended with a failed attempt to free the nine Israeli hostages.
Steinmeier stressed that “it is not a case that in any way strains German-Israeli relations for the present or the future.”
Herzog, for his part, stressed that mutual understanding makes it possible to face mistakes and human tragedies and learn from them for the future. He added that terrorism must not be allowed to “disturb the idea of the Olympics.”
This Monday, Steinmeier is scheduled to meet with Herzog at the Fuerstenfeldbruck air base near Munich for the 50th anniversary of the attack by Palestinian terrorists, who targeted Israeli athletes.
Eleven team members and one policeman were killed, most of them in the failed police rescue operation at the airbase. More than 200 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed in the Israeli military response to the attack on Palestinian positions in Jordan and Syria.
After decades of dispute, the German government agreed with the families of the deceased to pay compensation of 28 million euros ($27.8 million) shortly before the anniversary. This prevented a scandal, since for some time it was unclear whether relatives of the deceased and Herzog would participate in the commemoration ceremony.
Steinmeier was “pleased and relieved” by the agreement and also very grateful to Herzog for “always keeping the channels open for possible solutions”. “We both welcome the outcome of the talks,” he added. However, he clarified that he is aware that “nothing can heal the deep wounds of 50 years.”
For his part, Herzog thanked Steinmeier for “his unwavering moral commitment to historical justice.” In a very personal comment, Herzog recounted that his wife’s uncle Michal had also been in Munich for the Games at the time, but that until this Saturday, at the age of 90, he had never talked about his experiences. . “He never told us anything about it,” Herzog explained.
The Israeli president will be received tonight for a state banquet at the Bellevue Palace, seat of the German Presidency. On Tuesday he will visit the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. His father, Chaim Herzog, who was also Israel’s president from 1973 to 1983, entered the camp as a British officer in 1945 after liberation.
“I will also address the German Parliament and reveal my diplomatic views on the most important issues on the agenda, including Iran’s nuclear program,” Herzog said.
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