 It doesn't, you know, it doesn't filter yet to the leadership, but it may become a challenge. As it is a challenge to preserve the memory of the Holocaust with no living survivors around which will soon be the case, I think that with the distance of time to the events of the Second World War and the Holocaust, it will also become more challenging for the German leadership to preserve the legitimacy of this special relationship and the special commitment that Germany has held for so many decades to the safety and well-being of the state of Israel. German, how do you see this? Is the German public changing or is this just a natural phenomenon because of time that has passed? Look, I think it's clearly a challenge. Look, I think at the level of the leadership. I remember when Miki Levy, the president of Arknese, went to the Bundestag in January and it was the intensity of the event and the commemoration. The Holocaust survivor spoke the whole of the German leadership. I don't think there's any doubt in the German leadership's mind about the importance of Holocaust commemoration. It's important for the German identity of today, for them to be able to commemorate it and even accept responsibility and differentiate themselves from those that carried out the worst crime in history, as they would say. The younger generation is another matter. That is the challenge. That is why, for example, in recent meetings that we had with President Steinmeier and with the chancellors with Angela Merkel the idea of youth exchange between the countries was given a tremendous amount of emphasis. And I think that the dramatic expansion and exchange of younger generations, I have seen them come together. This is not a conversation of guilt and anger. It's a whole different conversation. And that's where we need to direct our efforts to youth exchange. I want to speak specifically about this survey. It has found that third of Germans believe that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is essentially the same as the Nazi genocide of Jews during the Holocaust. That is quite terrible. How do you see that? Is the memory of the Holocaust fading or the way that Germans see Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is so severe? That's great. I'd say like this. I was in Germany up till the end of March and I was there for almost five years. I never came across. Obviously in conversations with me, personal conversations, no one would have dared to make such a comparison. But I must say that I didn't come across it in public discussions. We had a lot of different open discussions with the German public. So I don't know about the actual findings of this and what it really means, but is there a perception that the Palestinian issue needs to be dealt with in a more careful way, definitely. And I think this is a question which is a bit beyond today's discussion. But one of the things that we have to do in order to firm up our relations with Europe in general, but also with Germany in particular, is to think of how we're going to move forward with the Palestinians. That is also a vital part of their agenda, and I think it also should be a vital part of our agenda. We need to avoid any sort of comparisons. We had recently Abu Mazen in the Bundestag. And I think that this type of statement is reprehensible, but it does damage. And I think we need to have a very proactive policy in order to counter it. Daniel, you were an ambassador in France. You obviously saw how the public opinion of Israel changes with the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How do you see this in general in Europe these days? There is a sense across Europe with certain variations from country to country. But even with the variations, the general feeling is that it's been far too long that the Israeli occupation of the territories has gone on. And especially, you know, as long as there was a credible effort on both sides, the Israelis and Palestinians to try and resolve it while there were still negotiations, you could sort of get away with the fact that we're trying. But for the past years there hasn't been any attempt, and it's not just Israel's responsibility, obviously. By the way, in the same survey, when asked, do you support the Palestinian side or the Israeli side, there is an advantage for the Israeli side, but they're both tiny, minute minorities, and the overwhelming majority say they either don't care or they support their positions equally. So there is a, I think that reflects a sense that, like in other countries in Europe, there is an expectation that there should be an effort to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which unfortunately doesn't seem to be on the cards right now. And what really struck me, is interesting in this survey as well, is that it found that Israelis have a higher regard for Germany than Germans do for Israel. So, is it the Israelis who are forgetting the past? Should they be forgetting the past? Or again, this is natural. Israelis travel and live in Berlin. Germany is a modern, peaceful country these days. Why is it that, do you think, perhaps from your meetings with Israelis in Germany, that Israelis have such a positive notion of Germany these days? Look, they appear, listen, I won't hide it, obviously. We had a lot of Israelis coming to live in Berlin, and I always saw it as one of the major parts of my job was to reach out to them and to keep them as part of our fold. And it was an important challenge for me. But I wouldn't underestimate the fact that Germany looks at Israel also on a number of levels with a great deal of admiration. Believe me now, Germany today was a much different place to when I came in 2017. The Russia invasion of Ukraine really created a very different mindset in Germany in terms of their defence needs and their capabilities in terms of NATO. And believe me, one of the countries that they'll look at and when they need to think about how they engage in defence cooperation and bolster their defensive capabilities, I'm pretty sure that one of the countries they'll look to is Israel because they have a great deal of admiration for Israeli expertise in the field. Let me tell you, in terms of the car industry in Germany, they look very much to Israeli technology and Israeli start-ups. When Mobileye was sold to the company Intel in 2016, I think it was. For the German companies, this was a great loss. And then you see a tremendous amount of German companies coming to Israel to be closer to the tech and to be investing in Israeli companies. So I just want to balance, and it's also in other areas as well, that you see also there's a tremendous amount of respect for what Israel has and what Israel can do that also emanates from the German mind. But there's no doubt it's a very popular destination for Israeli youngsters. I'll try to address your point about the positive image that Germany has among Israelis. I don't agree that this has anything to do with the memory of the Holocaust. I think that it's a certain demonstration of maturity that you don't turn the page in the sense that you forget the past, but you try and look at the future. And if you want, my father was one of the founders of the Israeli diplomatic service. He was a Holocaust survivor. He was in the death camps. And he was part of the Israeli delegation which established diplomatic relations with Germany. Certainly he didn't, it had nothing to do with forgetting or with forgiving. It has nothing to do with it. But what he said is you can't change the past, but you can try and write a more positive content on the empty pages of the future. And I think that the fact that Israelis can see the advantages and the certain beauty of this special relationship between two nations which were really not expected to reconcile easily, I think it's actually a very positive sign in my mind. I don't think that the Israelis, even those who live in Berlin and other places, I don't think that it has anything to do with forgetting the past. I think another very strong element in the relations between Israel and Germany is military cooperation. We've heard about submarines in other fields as well. And it goes back to the survey about the lasting role of the Holocaust in relations. 58 of Israelis agree or strongly agree that Germany has a special responsibility for the Jewish people compared with just 35% of the Germans. Of course we spoke about the fact that the German leadership, the president, the chancellor all are in line with the idea of cooperating and assisting Israel. But as time goes by and as we see the public opinion of the young public changing, are you expecting to see a change there like we see in the States perhaps? In terms of the leadership and their support. I don't see any indications that there will be a change. Even among younger politicians? Look, for the time being, the leadership of the major parties, the leadership of the present coalition, I think from wall to wall, apart from the alternative for Deutschland, which most people consider a very neo-Nazi party, the leadership has basically accepted what Merkel said in 2008 in the Knesset in terms of the special responsibility to Israel and to Israeli security. And I think it's a very strong feature in their beliefs. But the most important thing is that it's not just today a commitment of Germany to Israeli security. There's also developed a commitment of Israeli Israel to German security. And it's not just about submarines coming to Israel or corvettes coming to Israel. We also lease, for example, UAVs to the German army to protect their forces in Mali. So there's a ground under that, also intelligence cooperation and exchanges. There's a lot that goes into it that has made this into a very reciprocal bilateral relationship. And you mentioned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In what degree do you think that impacted Germany's relations with Israel? The need to maintain this strong relationship. I think the need to have that relationship and to nurture that relationship was there before that. I think it would only contribute and strengthen that need to do it. Listen, there have been also reports in the press about Germany considering buying missile defense systems, which Israel has, I don't know to what extent they're accurate, but I would not be surprised if one day we will hear about something in that regard. Israel is seen by Germany to be a very militarily competent state that has effective defensive capabilities and capabilities that Germany has become to understand that she needs in this very new reality in Europe. There has been a very major event in German history, this Russian invasion of Ukraine. It has brought a whole different environment and set of demands to their national security that they hadn't needed to face for many years up till now, at least since the end of the Cold War. Certainly an opportunity for Israel also in terms of natural gas. We know of the problems of moving those natural gas from Russia into Germany into Europe and Israel here together with other countries has a role and it has perhaps an opportunity. I think that might take a bit of time to sort of get underway, but it's definitely a potential that should be explored. In any event, to continue what was said earlier about the defense issues and the Ukraine war I think even if it didn't have a direct impact on German-Israeli relations I think it will have indirectly an impact in the sense that it has triggered a change in the approach of Germany to military might and to extending its military might, exporting some materials and that turns Germany into a more, how should I put this, a more avid customer for Israeli military technology and hardware. Gentlemen, stand by as we continue to cover the 50th anniversary of the Munich massacre. We now bring you a story of an Israeli and a Hungarian runner who embarked together on a special project to commemorate the event. I-24 News correspondent Jonathan Regev has the story. It's the opening bell for an astonishing race. These runners will cover 550 kilometers in 11 days. Yes, that is 50 kilometers every day and the reason behind this project is truly remarkable. Because of the 50 years of the murder of the 11 athletes, we decided to run from Budapest all the way west to Munich as close as possible to the date of the terror attack. Next week will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the darkest episodes in the history of the Olympic movement, the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Games. We want to dedicate it to those athletes that were murdered in the, you know, in the temple of the sports, the Olympic Games, for no reason or for the reason to be Jewish and Israeli. Israeli veteran runner Asaf Stollerz, along with his Hungarian friend Peter Agiu, came up with the idea of running for 11 days each day dedicated to a different murdered athlete. They embarked on their mission with the blessing of the families and the help of Makhabi World Union and the Israeli Olympic Committee. The race is set to end this coming weekend in Munich with a clear aim. The message is very clear. Run to remember. Don't forget. We're running to remember. The world was shocked back in 1972, but the decision was to proceed with the Games. Those who made that poor decision may have wished the murder of the athletes would become no more than a soon-to-be-forgotten incident. Asaf, Peter and their project are here to make sure we will always remember. Still with me in studio is two former Israeli Ambassador Jeremy Izakarov and Daniel Schaek. Thank you both for being with us. One topic that was mentioned by President Herzog yesterday in his meeting with Steinmeier was Iran. What Israel sees as the greatest threat to its existence and to global stability, Herzog reiterating that Israel will not be able to allow Iran to become nuclear. We're seeing the negotiations that nobody really knows where they've gone. And yet the two countries don't necessarily see eye-to-eye about how strict should Israel or the world be with Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Well, the negotiations we've been hearing have been going on for a number of months. And every morning we hear they are closer to agreement and maybe further. So I've been very skeptical for the time being about the Iranian position. I'm worried that going back to the agreement of 2015, which in original terms I wasn't against because I thought it could, at that time, bias maybe a few more years of delaying the Iranian program. But I think the abandonment of the agreement by Trump was a mistake. I think you can't make a move like that without having some sort of backup plan that would continue, not only the pressure, but continue the enforcement of stopping Iran improving its nuclear technology. But now to go back to that agreement, which is not going to be longer and stronger, it's going to be shorter and weaker, that to me is of great concern. Now Germany has always been part of the agreement. She'll support it and she'll want to stay in coordination with the Americans. So that's the conversation that we're having now and it's a vitally important time to have that conversation. And Danny, of course, that's not a problem just with Germany. Israel is trying to persuade the world, trying to persuade the Americans, sending delegations there, one after the other, Benny Gantz and other defense officials. With Europe it seems it is much more difficult, at least a much more difficult task for Israel. I'm not sure that's true. I think that across the board and across the Atlantic, I think there is a unanimous thought that it is better to return to some kind of framework of an agreement rather than leaving the situation as it is since President Trump, former President Trump, decided to leave the agreement and virtually made it collapse. Now, Jeremy is certainly one of the biggest Israeli experts on the Iranian issue through his career. So I'm being cautious in this assessment. But I think that generally everybody agrees that the end game should be that Iran should not be a nuclear power. And there is no difference between Israel and the other Western nations that are negotiating indirectly with Iran currently. There is a divergent separation of the opinions on that specific point. That at least, how should I put it, officially and then outwardly, there is an Israeli unwillingness to join the group. Ambassador, we can now hear the German President, Frank Walter Steinmeier, let's take a listen to what he has to say. Distinguished guests, this is a day of mourning and memory. I'm grateful that you, the families of the victims are here today. That you, Mr. President Herzog, is here next to me. Without your presence, without the presence of the representatives of the State of Israel, I could not think of a respectable memory. I thank for everyone who contributed and allowed this shared commemoration today. Dear relatives, we cannot, we can only imagine the pain and suffering that you have experienced, the husbands and the fathers. And what does it mean for you today? How does it leave, is it to be a young woman who just gave birth to her first child with a father that will never come back? How do you continue to live with the images of the room where the murder took place? How do you continue to live with the knowledge that the father has suffered for years, for hours? How do you continue to live with the memory that a husband was shot and then bled to death next to his friends? How do you continue living when you receive two postcards from Munich in which the son that was murdered by now says everything is wonderful? And he looks forward to returning home. I know about the suffering and the trauma. All of these continue to exist among the families until this day. Nothing in your lives is the same as it was before 1972. Nothing continues to be the way it was and the way it should have been for five decades. This pain continues, dear guests. The Munich games were supposed to be completely different from the previous games in Germany in 1936. When the Nazis used as a show, using them without a shame, using the Olympic idea for their purposes, 1972 was supposed to be a correction of Berlin. The Republic of Germany wanted to show itself as a liberal nation, as a member of the democratic states. Yes, there was an aspiration to hold cheerful games in the new Germany that has left a past behind it. But there was always also the responsibility of the host to the athletes, including, and particularly, those from Israel. Israel that was threatened from the very first day of its existence, surrounded by hate. The Jewish state has to be strong and be ready. In Germany, the Israeli athletes were our guests. Their security was in our hands. What a show of trust this was to take part in the Olympic Games in the country of the criminals after the crime against humanity during the Holocaust. Among the Israeli athletes were also survivors. One of the sad truths is that we wanted to be good hosts, but we did not stand to the trust that the Israeli athletes and their families gave us. They were not safe. They were not protected. They were tortured and murdered by terrorists in our country. We were not prepared for an attack of this type. We should have been ready. This is part of the bitter truth. We were not ready for it. The fact that those terrorists from outside of Germany will misuse of the Olympic idea and will use any sort of violence called blooded violence. We were not ready for a terror attack that was executed in front of international TV viewers. The effort to present Germany as a peaceful democracy failed in Munich. The Olympic village turned into an international stage for terrorists. An international stage for Jew hatred and for violence. This should not have happened. We stand in horror in front of this graceful crime. These are the words of Gustav Heinemann, the former president, who fought to keep his tears. But these words are not enough to explain the catastrophe of Munich. Many have said later that this catastrophe was un-describable for those who were present there. This was the most dominant feeling for those who were there. But shouldn't we have known, especially us, as Germans, that the idea of unthinkable is a mistake. That has terrible consequences. The unthinkable can protect us from other questions, but it distracts us from the real question of avoiding what shouldn't have happened. Dear guests, we need to remember this memory is painful. It's particularly painful to you, the families, but the memory must also hurt us in Germany. The events in Germany in 1972 have left deep marks on the families. The trauma of Munich is in the collective memory of people in Israel. But the attack has left marks also for us in Munich and in Germany as a whole. Today's commemoration can only be sincere if we're willing to make painful conclusions to understand that the events are also a result of mistakes, deadly mistakes. This recognition, ladies and gentlemen, should have occurred a long time ago. Yes, the criminals did not come from Germany, but the responsibility was by the Palestinian terrorists and their aides. It is bitter that there was no word of sympathy or regret from the political representatives from those countries, the criminals and their aides. Eight Palestinian terrorists and those who operated them are those who brought their hatred to Munich. Those are the ones responsible, but this does not exclude us. We also carry the responsibility, responsibility of the hosts to prevent what you didn't, to defend the hostages being held by terrorists. Today, 50 years later, there are far too many questions that remain unanswered. The games must go on. The games must go on. The politics has done all it can to go back to normal. After years of silence, this should not have happened. How could all of this happen? We must ask ourselves this question. We must find answers. We need to want to find the answers. Why do the criminals who are left alive were never prosecuted? One of them is still proud of his crime today in front of cameras. He's saying that he would have done the same. What were the exact relations of the criminals with the German extreme right? Why did the German security officials were so inexperienced? Did Germany disregard Israel's warning? And why was Israel's request to assist was overturned? Why was there not an investigative committee? We speak about a great tragedy. First, about the preparations for the games and the security. Second, about the events of the 5th and the 6th of September. And the third begins a day after the attack, the silence, the forgetness. I congratulate the fact that the German government announces the establishment of a committee of historians. I wish it can shed more light on this dark episode in history. And I hope it will receive assistance as much as needed. Their work may expose uncomfortable truths. It must do so. We must deal with the history of Munich and also with the question of why didn't we deal with it until today. We must fight in any type of antisemitism in our country and particularly with antisemitic violence. This is our responsibility to history. And as a democratic state we must be able to defend ourselves. Freedom and security are not contracting. They work together. They are attempting to hurt freedom. We must stand guard against the enemies of democracy both inside and outside. Because we live in a time in which democratic liberal democracies are attacked. Munich 1972 teaches us another lesson, even if we know the truth. If we acknowledge the mistakes, then the wound can heal. Our country has suffered. This is the only way in which the wound can heal. But this doesn't only treat us legally. This goes to those who lost their lives. You, the relatives, you have a right to finally know the truth. To get answers to questions that are bothering you for dozens of years. Including the question of why are you alone with your pain, with your suffering for so long. No, less than 45 years have passed until a commemoration in the Olympic Village was established. Back then, with Israeli President Ruben Rivlin and family relatives, we grieved together. We remembered together. But it took five long years until we reached an agreement about a respectable compensation. Dear guests and families, dear President Herzog, we are united in the memory of years of the 12 people who lost their lives in this event. We are united in pain, but we must not forget. Your pain, the pain of the families is your pain, which we did not estimate properly. I know that even the agreement that was reached now is not enough to heal all the open wounds. Therefore, I say these words to you. Your lives are influenced by the grief, by the pain over 50 years. We cannot make up for what has happened, for what you experienced and what you have suffered. This ashamed me. Therefore, in my role as the head of this country, I ask for your forgiveness. And I add today, as the head of the state, in the name of the country of Germany, I ask for your forgiveness for the protection that we didn't provide you. And for not supplying enough information about what has happened. This is my duty and need to acknowledge our responsibility as Germans here today and for the future. I hope this day would lead for you, the families, feel that we share your grief, your pain, that you feel that we seriously mean our responsibility. Ladies and gentlemen, respectable guests, Mr. President, the friendship and appeasement that Israel has given us is no less than a miracle. We hope that this day will bring so that the Germans would prove to be worthy of this friendship, the asset that was so badly damaged in this place 50 years ago, the trust. Thank you very much. That was German President Frank Walter Steinmeier getting the applause at the ceremony marking 15 years to the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. The Munich Olympic Games is getting a hug there, I believe, from Yankee Spitzer, the widow of one of the victims from President Herzog, the Romano family. Now we'll hear Israeli President Isaac Herzog. My dear and beloved families of those murdered, the survivors of the Munich massacre. My respectable and friend, German President Frank Walter Steinmeier, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your historic and brave speech that touched the hearts of all of us. The Prime Minister Bavaria, Marcus Noder, leaders from Germany and from Israel, representatives of the Olympic committees, leaders of the Jewish communities in Germany, their believers and families of those murdered. Why was there such a great sacrifice and a great sacrifice from the Lord? That's how the Prophet Yermiao asks, and this is how we ask today. Even after 50 years since the horrifying murder of the 11 Israeli athletes here with uncomprehensible viciousness, the pain is eternal and the event remains as a wound that does not heal. Every one of us that remembers those dark and endless hours of September 1972 carries the same scar, the same moments in which we followed with fear, the conflicting reports that came every few hours from the Olympic village in Munich. It was difficult to believe that athletes, judges and coaches, Jews and Israelis are being held by terrorists on the land of Germany. We hoped for a different ending. Unfortunately our hopes tarnished. Within 24 hours we received the most difficult announcement that none of them has survived. Although I was only a young boy, I will never forget that dreadful morning when I drove with my father to school and we heard in the car together the horrifying news. I will not forget the tears in our eyes, the sense of complete shock, the grief, the sadness that have covered the entire country when what was named the cheerful Olympics has turned into a lowest point of the history of world sports in Olympics. The 11 athletes, the victims of the massacre came 50 years ago to the Olympics on the land of Germany under the spirit of sports, in the spirit of the Olympic spirit, of friendship, of solidarity between nations and between countries. They were cruelly murdered by a Palestinian terror organization only because they were Jewish, only because they were Israelis. This brutal massacre that took their lives and the life of a German policeman was a tremendous human tragedy that erased the honor of a person and it was a moment in which the Olympic torch was light has turned off. For us it was a national disaster. It desecrated this spirit of the Olympics. It stained the Olympic flag with blood. It will never be the same. Dozens of years as was said by President Stranemeyer, Germany and the Olympic Committee have avoided commemorating the 11 victims. To the regret and the pain of the families for losing their loved ones and the scars that they carry throughout the years also were the pains of the indifference. These were days in which it felt like one simple truth was forgotten. This was not a Jewish and Israeli tragedy. This is a world tragedy, a tragedy that we must remind of in every Olympics and teach its lessons from one generation to another. A tragedy that stresses again and again. The no greater opposites than sport and terror. The no greater opposites. The world must not forget what has happened in the Munich Olympics of 1972. The world must not forget. The fight against terror in every place and every time must be common and determined. The future of the human society is determined, is dependent of us fighting the evil, the anti-Semitism, the hate, the terror in that sense and suddenly that the decision of Germany over the past few days for which I thank you Mr. President for your tremendous efforts and together with you the German government and the Bavarian government and Munich municipality the decision to take responsibility for the wrongdoings around the massacre for allowing to investigate them and compensate the families of the victims is part of savoring the good and fighting the bad and it has after half a century an important and right step towards the families and for the history. In the Hebrew language there is a word for those who are killed. It is called the Halal. The same word Halal describes an empty place, a place where there is nothing. Each of the 11 victims was a whole world to his family for his loved ones and for his people. Each and every one of them has left a Halal, a space that will never be filled. There are no words to your bravery and how you stick to life and your following generations. Some of them are with us today committed to memory and to life and meaning all of these are an example to all of us for the memory of those who are killed. May the memory of the victims be saved in our hearts forever. Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaking there at this special ceremony in Munich we are seeing him hugging the German President Frank Walter Steinmeier still with me in studio 2 Israeli Ambassador Daniel Scheck and Jeremy Izakarov. Very powerful speeches particularly that of the German President. Talk us through your main takeaways and the meaning, the historical meaning of this speech. Well we spoke a little before about the role of the President and I think in this sense the President was speaking from his own soul and I think that I've heard a number of his speeches and I'm not surprised that he was incredibly candid about the past. He wasn't trying to sugarcoat anything. His words were very very powerful and I think that they will go a long way to healing a lot of the bad feelings that were with the survivors and their families and I have no doubt that he has been a very great friend of Israel over the last years. I know that he means every word that he says and I think he's been a great friend to the Jewish people and at this point I think he's serving both countries deeper interests and at a very difficult time where we have to. We said before that we can't change the history but sometimes history can change us and I think these two presidents are helping us change ourselves and I think that's important. I think in a sense the ceremony has become a worthy closure for people involved. I can't speak for the families and obviously they are the measuring stick to this but I think that even if you saw the reaction of some of the family members that were present during President Steinmeier's speech, wiping a tear and nodding, you could see that he did the right thing and he spoke the right words and it's 50 years of hardship. And in a sense you know Jeremy's and my colleagues and some points Jeremy himself and myself and some capacities in the foreign ministry have been accompanying this event trying to help find a resolution to this. And finally this is happening and I think that both speeches were very moving, very to the point both of them spoke about the need to fight terrorism and not just memory, there's also a sense of what has to be done in the future. Gentlemen stand by, we go now straight to Munich, our Germany correspondent, Polina Garayev is standing by for us. Polina, a very emotional ceremony, very heartfelt speeches from both President Herzog and particularly that of German President Steinmeier, what are your main takeaways? Well the ceremony is still ongoing and we're still waiting to hear from the relatives of the victims who perhaps have the most to say. But we already heard some very powerful statements, specifically several expressions stood out to me, never again an historic responsibility. Those are words that Germany usually utters or German officials usually utter in the context of the Holocaust and here of course they were said in a very different context but it is being used to signal that Germany is acknowledging that this is another painful chapter in its history that is now taking full responsibility for them. And we heard officials apologize both for the fact that they weren't prepared to protect their guests, especially a guest that were coming from Israel, many of them have been Holocaust survivors themselves. There was a special significance to their visit here and Germany utterly failed to protect them. And also for the last five decades it also failed to acknowledge the shortcomings in handling this tragedy. It took five decades for this apology to come. I remind you that even the memorial that was open at the Olympic Village was only inaugurated about five years ago. So this is definitely a development but also at the beginning of a conversation where you spoke a lot about how this marks the end of the legal dispute between German authorities and the families that this is true. But also as this was heard many times already in the speeches that this is the beginning of a conversation and open conversations where German authorities are willing to talk about what happened and what could have been done better. And this will be done as part of a committee of historians that will look into archive material and classified materials in order to give the families some answers. And also, and this was also expressed the fight against anti-Semitism, not only terrorism, but anti-Semitism. This was linked with what has happened then. And also, of course, this fight is never-ending and is important for Germany nowadays. We've seen, of course, this being linked to the events over the Munich massacre. And of course, this is something, again, another promise that Germany is giving Israel today. There's a very emotional ceremony right there in Munich. Polina Gariyev standing by for us. Thank you so much for that update. Still with me in studio is Daniel Schaik and Jeremy Izakarov. We have two minutes left for this broadcast. Your final comments. Okay, I think it was what everyone expected. Sadly, it took five decades but it's important that it happened. And I hope that this will serve as some kind of closure for the families. That's all we can hope for. Jeremy. I think it will serve to give the families a very strong measure of closure. But as Polina said, this is also opening a process of investigating what actually happened. And I think that's very important for the families as well. So this will be not the end of the whole episode, but rather the beginning of what has been called the process of healing. And I think that's what we're looking at. And I think that we've taken a very major step today to give the families some solace and to be able to move on a path where we can give them as much healing as possible and as much transparency and truth as can be done in this horrific situation. Yes, many questions left still unanswered for the families. We hope they will find the answers. And all of us will be able to hear the truth about everything that led to these events and also in the aftermath of this massacre. Gentlemen, thank you both for being with me. Daniel Schaik, former Israeli Ambassador to France. And Jeremy Izakarov, former Israeli Ambassador to Germany. It's been a pleasure to have you with us on this special I-24 News Edition covering this ceremony in Munich, marking 50 years to the massacre in Munich for us at the I-24 News Desk. That's a wrap for now. More updates coming up at the top of the hour. Thank you for watching.