In the past few weeks, a war of words has erupted between the official, Alex Gilady, and the families of the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Games.

They allege that his opposition hurt their cause.

Gilady actually covered the Munich Games for Israel TV and today is senior vice-president of NBC Sports, where he focuses on international business.

In 2006, he was inducted into Israel’s International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and was given a lifetime achievement award from the hall.

The families failed in their bid for a minute of silence during the London Olympics opening ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the terror attack.

Their campaign could not persuade the IOC – despite garnering more than 111,000 signatures on a petition from more than 105 countries, as well as support from President Barack Obama and numerous other national leaders.

Even after meeting with two of the Munich 11 widows, IOC president Jacques Rogge refused to budge on his opposition to the moment of silence.

Some Jewish activists point the finger directly at Gilady for the outcome.

“I believe he was part of the decision not to go ahead”, said Steve Gold, chairman of the Munich 11 Minute of Silence Petition and vice-president of the JCC Rockland in suburban New York.

“By having an Israeli who’s on the IOC not supporting the minute of silence, it gave the IOC a bit more credibility.”

For his part, Gilady told Insidethegames.biz in May that when it came to the moment of silence, “the unity of the Olympic movement is the most important one” and “therefore, I am not supporting such a move”.

He added that “such an act may harm the unity of the Olympics”.

Days before the London Olympics opened, Gilady told the Chicago Tribune that he was acting “in [the] best interest of Israeli sport”.

And he added: “For me, the most important thing at the moment is that Israel have (sic) stages to compete on.”

He recalled how Israel was thrown out of the Asian Olympic Association in 1981 and did not regain a continental sports affiliation until Rogge, among others, helped Israel become a member of the European Olympic Committees in 1994.

There would not be an “appropriate commemoration in the Olympic stadium,” Gilady told the Tribune, until “there is peace”.

Others, to put it lightly, disagree.

In a recent foxnews.com piece that went viral, Guri Weinberg, son of the murdered wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, published his own account of a meeting with Gilady in Atlanta in 1996, two years after Gilady was appointed to the IOC and as that city was hosting the Olympics.

Weinberg, an actor who is in the cast of the next instalment of the movie series Twilight, alleged that Gilady told him that any memorial for the Israelis would necessitate a similar one for the Palestinian terrorists who died in the attack.

As one of the Munich 11 widows recalled her husband’s torture and murder, Gilady listened “stone cold with no emotion” then excused himself from the meeting “without a hint of empathy,” Weinberg wrote.

Gilady denied Weinberg’s story.

Ilana Romano, widow of murdered weightlifter Yosef Romano, said of Gilady’s opposition to the minute of silence: “I think it’s terrible idiocy.

“It’s a lack of consideration, a lack of respect for those who were murdered. It’s giving in to terror.”

If he doesn’t believe in the minute of silence, she added, “I expect him to say ‘I’m sorry, I can’t push it forward’ but don’t say it’s not necessary. It’s necessary.”

Gilady, born in Tehran in 1942, was a sports journalist who covered the Munich Olympics for Israeli television. He later became executive producer of Israel TV special events, winning the 1977 Israel Broadcasting Association Award for coverage of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem.

His IOC involvement dates back to 1984, when he joined its radio and television commission, which advises on working conditions for the broadcast media.

He was appointed an IOC member in 1994 and has been on the Co-ordination for the Games Committee for every Olympics since 2004.

Much of the Jewish anger against Gilady stems from the expectation that as an Israeli he would have the country’s interests at heart.

Sport and Culture Minister Limor Livnat has bluntly complained about him.

“We would have expected him to have been the representative of the bereaved families, the representative of the entire Israeli society,” she said.

Gilady, however, insists that his critics have it wrong.

“I was elected to the IOC on a private basis,” he said. “I do not represent countries – I represent specifics the IOC is concerned about. I just happen to be an Israeli.”