IOC President Jacques Rogge. Photo: wiki commons.

Two widows of Israelis slain at the 1972 Munich Olympics – including Ankie Spitzer who is leading the charge for a minute of silence at this Saturday’s opening Olympic ceremony for the 11 Israelis killed at the 72′ Games – met with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge yesterday, and say that Rogge refused to answer their question as to whether or not he was denying the minute of silence request because the slain athletes and coaches were Israeli, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

“For one moment I thought he was swaying and I pleaded with him do the right thing, the thing we all ask for,” Spitzer said. “I asked him ‘is it because they were Israelis?’ and he didn’t answer.”

Spitzer’s call for a minute of silence to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1972 murders of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists has been supported by world leaders including President Obama, Mitt Romney and others.

Ilano Romano joined Spitzer for Wednesday’s meeting with Rogge and the two women handed the IOC chief a petition signed by 105,000 people in support of the minute of silence.  However, Rogge, who has consistently said that the opening ceremony is not the right place for such a memorial, reiterated his opposition to the idea.

On Monday, Rogge held a moment of silence inside the Olympic village where athletes and coaches from around the world are staying ahead of the upcoming summer games in London.

“I was looking him in the eye but he said we had two different opinions,” Spitzer stated.  “We said ‘you didn’t hear the voice of the world’. He said: ‘Yes I did’.”