25 years of attack against AMIA: Hezbollah and anti-Semitism | Internationale

We are on the eve of commemorating a quarter of a century of impunity since the terrible terrorist attack on the headquarters of the Mutual Association Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires. On July 18, 1994, after multiple warnings regarding the possibility of a new attack on Iran and its Hezbollah henchmen after the 1992 bombing of the embbady Israeli in the same city, a truck loaded with explosives exploded in front of the building. construction of the institutional heart of Argentine Judaism resulting in the death of 85 civilians and more than 300 wounded of nationalities. Considered the most violent antisemitic attack to date in the world since the Second World War, it has shaken Argentine society and created a deep sense of vulnerability in the Jewish world.

Beyond the surprising results of this case that do not end up being clarified despite the continual statements of commitment of all governments in turn to carry out the investigations to their final consequences, the Argentine State continues to s & rsquo; # 39; indebted to all those affected. Although particularly critical moments have taken place, such as the signing of the memorandum with the Islamic Republic of Iran by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, have aroused widespread condemnation of the Argentinean and world Jewish communities and, more importantly, families of the victims. the contamination of the evidence, the slowness in the treatment of the evidence, the extreme politicization were obstacles to the consignment of the guilty.

Certainly, there were lights on a road marked mainly by the darkness. The investigations by the special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, whose untimely death is still a mystery, is one of the few tangible developments that explain the motives and international actors of what has been described as a crime against humanity. Nisman concluded for the first time unequivocally that the Iranian authorities of the highest level were indeed the intellectual authors of this attack. In 2007, at the meeting of Interpol in Morocco, Nisman presented his report. After months of Iranian debates and attempts to sabotage the process, red alerts were finally issued against five Iranian officials.

The government of President Mauricio Macri has made enormous efforts to try to revive efforts to ensure that Iran accepts its guilt and collaborates so that the accused can respond to Argentine justice, although this goal comes to the impossible, considering the impossible. the permanent refusal of the Persian government. He also tried to advance in what is called the local connection by calling to declare and even to condemn those who provided logistical badistance to the attack or who were engaged, outright, to prevent their clarification.

Beyond the importance of keeping alive the memory of the victims and counteracting the deep sense of impunity, there remains an urgent issue: ensuring that Hezbollah and Iran – whose central role in promoting terrorist activities in the world has not diminished – be held responsible. It takes a bigger dimension when we see today a Middle East plunged into an escalation of tension, with Iran surpbading its production of nuclear material between the US and Sunni governments and when Hezbollah continues to feed its arsenal more and more. more. 100,000 rockets directed against Israel from Lebanon and Syria and involved in the trafficking of drugs and weapons, money laundering and other criminal activities in the region and around the world, including in the Western Hemisphere.

Indeed, given the imminent danger that Hizbullah poses on our continent, the governments of Argentina and the United States organized a training seminar in Buenos Aires a few months ago for experts from the United States. financing of terrorism in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama. Paraguay and Peru. All of these countries have had friction with Hezbollah cells and activities within their borders.

And on July 18, during the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the AMIA attack, a ministerial meeting on terrorism will be held in the Western Hemisphere, including in Buenos Aires.

Despite these more than welcome initiatives, as well as sanctions, detention or expulsion of Hezbollah-related personalities in Venezuela and Paraguay, no Latin American country, not even those present at the seminary in Argentina, Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization at the United Nations. sanctions that entails.

The only courageous voice was that of the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, who, after receiving the US Jewish Committee Democracy Award in Washington in early June, strongly condemned Hezbollah as the terrorist organization, with a solid base of operations in South America that promotes anti-Semitism, which, as we know, has been growing rapidly around the world. In this context, Almagro also stated that its secretariat had adopted the definition of anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (HRIA), the only one to have included in a clear and complete in the framework of animosity and discrimination against Jews, anti-Zionism and delegitimization of Israel approved in its founding charter by organizations such as Hezbollah . This definition has been adopted by more than a dozen countries, including the European Union, Canada, France, Britain, Germany and Austria.

Mr. Almagro reiterated that the OAS would work every day to ensure a hemisphere free from anti-Semitism, terrorism and authoritarianism and urged the member countries of its multilateral organization to adopt the said definition.

This upcoming anniversary offers Latin American countries an unprecedented opportunity to finally declare Hezbollah openly for what it is, an end-to-end terrorist organization, and to recognize in its actions one of the essential reasons for the promotion. anti-Semitism by adopting the definition received by Secretary General Almagro.

Dina Siegel Vann, A native of Mexico, she is director of the Belfer Institute for Latin American Affairs of the AJC (American Jewish Committee) based in Washington.