The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta and the consul general of Israel will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the deaths of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes with a moment of silence Friday, July 27, the center announced.

The commemoration begins at 3 p.m. in the Olympic 11 Garden at the center, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, in Dunwoody.

The Israeli athletes were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Eleven athletes were slain by the terrorists.

The center, in a press release, said metro Atlanta’s Jewish community is joining other groups from around the world in holding the moment of silence on the opening day of the 2012 London Olympics.

Officials of the London event have declined to include a minute of silence in the opening ceremony, the center said, quoting International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge as saying, “The opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident.”

Joe Earle is Editor-at-Large. He has more than 30-years of experience with daily newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was Managing Editor of Reporter Newspapers.