An image of one of the Palestinian terrorists who took part in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – The German government said Friday it set up an international commission of experts to review the events surrounding the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics, a move that represents part of an agreement reached last year with relatives of the 11 Israeli team members who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

Berlin named an eight-member panel of historians, most of them based in Israel or Germany. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser underlined Germany’s commitment to “a thorough reappraisal of what happened.”

The commission will also “rigorously examine the period before and after” the attack, Faeser said in a statement. “It is particularly important to me for their work to also thoroughly address the treatment of the family members after the attack.”

In September, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologized for multiple failures by his country before, during, and after the attack as he joined his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and relatives of the slain athletes at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary.

On September 5, 1972, eight gunmen of the Palestinian terror group Black September stormed into the Israeli team’s flat at the Olympic village, shooting dead two and taking nine Israelis hostage.

West German police responded with a bungled rescue operation in which all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the eight hostage-takers and a police officer.

Despite the devastation, the International Olympic Committee announced on the morning of September 6 that the Games would go on.