Six weeks before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the German Professor of Sports History, ARND KRUEGER, from the University of Goettingen maintained at an academic conference that the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were murdered on September 5, 1972 at the Olympic Games in Munich had essentially committed suicide for the sake of Israel. Ilan Mor, the chargé d’affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Germany, condemned Krueger’s speech as the most abnoxious form of dehumanizing the State of Israel.

We, the German section of the international organization Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, SPME-Germany, strongly condemn Krueger’s assertion. We express our sincere sympathy with the families of the 11 murdered Israeli athletes and coaches in Munich.

Promptly after becoming aware of Krueger’s speech, SPME-Germany sent a strongly worded letter to the president of the University of Goettingen saying that this is not the first time Krueger has uttered anti-Israel views, and we urged him to take action against that.

Unfortunately our letter was only answered evasively. The Board of the University of Goettingen distanced itself from Krueger’s assertions but nevertheless declared on its home page that is not willing to take any further actions, because a supposedly scientific malconduct cannot be proved (see: www.uni-goettingen.de).

We agree with the judgement of the Central Council of Jews in Germany calling this conduct of a renowned German university a “declaration of moral bankruptcy”.

If such a statement will find followers in Germany, then the day will not be too far on which ugly anti semitic paroles could be presented as scientific findings in our country. We will do our best to stop this development.