Former German parliamentarian Volker Beck proposed a creative idea this week to resolve the crisis regarding the compensation to the families of 11 Israeli athletes who were killed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich by members of a Palestinian group.
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After Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing "50 Holocaust" against Palestinians while in Germany, and refused to apologize for his remarks, Beck who heads the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group – called on the government to transfer the funds earmarked as Palestinian aid to the families of the Israeli athletes instead.
He stressed that according to Olympic security officials, Abbas was involved in the preparations for the 1972 attack and apparently even financed the operation.
Since Abbas' scandalous remarks at the joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Germany has increasingly been called on to impose sanctions on the PA and decrease its aid to the Palestinians.
Between 2021 and 2022, Berlin has sent Ramallah around 340 million euros. The German Foreign Ministry said it does not intend to decrease the funds. It is unclear how much of the aid comes from the German government directly as political foundations and aid and civil organization also contribute. The information is defined by the Bundestag as a "state secret."
Relatives of the murdered Israeli athletes have long criticized how German authorities handled the attack and this year announced they would boycott the upcoming memorial ceremony in Munich to mark the 50th anniversary of the massacre due to Germany's "degrading compensation offer."
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been working on a compromise between the parties that would prevent Germany from being humiliated at the memorial ceremony due to being boycotted by Israel.
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