Still No Justice: Four Years After The Bombing Of Argentina's Jewish Community Headquarters

American Jewish Committee
Friday, 17 July 1998

On the fourth anniversary of the bombing of the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Aid Association (AMIA) Jewish community headquarters building in Buenos Aires, a new American Jewish Committee investigative report asserts: "The AMIA bombing investigation, though far more active, has failed to construct a coherent case that would explain the attack and help take measures against further terrorist activities."

"Still No Justice: Four Years After The AMIA Bombing," written for AJC by prominent Argentine journalist Sergio Kiernan, also reveals that the Argentine Jewish community is increasingly divided in its support for its government's investigation. This report is a follow-up to three earlier publications written by Mr. Kiernan for AJC.

The bombing of the seven-story AMIA building was the deadliest terrorist event in Argentina's history, and resulted in the largest Jewish death toll from terrorism outside Israel since World War II. Eighty-six people were killed and another 300 were wounded. It was the second major attack against a Jewish target in Buenos Aires, after the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy.

Since the earliest days of the investigation there has been evidence pointing to Iranian involvement in the attack. AJC has welcomed steps taken by Argentina against Iran, which include surveillance of Iranian activity in Argentina and the reduction of diplomatic ties between the two countries to a minimum.

"Still No Justice" details what has been learned from the ongoing investigation and why so much still remains a mystery.

"First, agents of the state are implicated in the bombing. The investigation of the AMIA case exposed an advanced state of corruption in Argentina's largest police force, the Buenos Aires Province Police Department. Eleven provincial policemen, including high-ranking officers, remain under arrest on charges related to the bombing," Mr. Kiernan writes.

According to AJC's report, another roadblock to the investigation is the Argentine judiciary system, which lacks legal tools to get at the truth. "All we can offer to a suspect willing to talk is a place in heaven," said a high ranking judiciary official.

As exposed in AJC's initial report on the AMIA bombing (published in 1995 on the first anniversary), Argentine security is inadequately prepared to deal with international terrorism. "Still No Justice" notes that the country still does not have a computer database of immigrants and has "no control whatsoever over who crosses its borders."

Among Argentine Jews, controversy revolves around the attention of the government's investigation on the Iranian involvement as opposed to a focus on the local support base for the terrorists. In a meeting with Jewish leaders in New York in February, Argentine President Carlos Menem lashed out at Memoria Activa, an Argentine Jewish group that is critical of the investigation. Mr. Kiernan reports that over the years Memoria Activa has managed to focus public attention on the lack of progress in the government's investigation.

Jacobo Kovadloff, AJC's Consultant for Latin America Affairs, commented that, "what really bothers Menem's government is that it is apparent that local support for the terrorists came from the police department of the province of Buenos Aires."

Mr. Kiernan adds, "That the president of Argentina would assail an Argentine Jewish group before an American Jewish audience is not all that surprising, since Memoria Activa's outspokenness reflects a widening conflict within Argentine Jewry… The community is now openly debating the government's investigation of the bombings and the propriety of their own communal officials' relationships with the government."

The DAIA, an umbrella group of Argentine Jewish organizations, feels "the investigation is showing promising results." DAIA President Ruben Beraja says the Argentine authorities are "uncovering the international conspiracy that made the bombings possible. From there, we will discover the local connection."

Mr. Kiernan asserts that "most depressing is the prevalent mood of pessimism (among Argentinians generally) about solving either the embassy or the AMIA case. Even if conclusive proof is found of Iranian involvement, it is hard to find an Argentine, particularly an Argentine Jew, who believes that the local accomplices of the terrorists – be they Shiite militants, criminals, or corrupt policemen – will be punished. "

In the foreword to the report, Jason Isaacson, AJC's Director of Government and International Affairs, said that, "the American Jewish Committee, which has consistently warned world leaders about Iran's involvement in international terrorism, welcomes Argentina's strong diplomatic steps against Iran. Nevertheless, pursuit of the Iranian connection must not lead to abandonment of the search for the 'local connection,' those Argentines who facilitated or actually carried out the bombings." AJC will continue to closely monitor the case until it is resolved.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org