Argentina's Jews After The Bomb: very Monday morning at a few minutes PEDRO BRIEGER before 10:00, the precise moment on July 18 that a car bomb leveled the Argentinian Jewish Mutual Agency in Buenos Aires and killed 99 people and injuredl57, a group oEf Argentinian Jews marches in front of the city's Supreme Court carrying signs reading "No to Impunity." The protestors are demanding to know why investigators have failed to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of the bombing, which not only destroyed the "AMIA" (die Jewish center's Spanish acronym, pronounced "AH- mee-ya"), but ripped a hole in the heart of the -250,000- strong community. v 1 The word "impunity" was not chosen 'lightly: "itnpunidad"'can be understood as a code word for the government's failure to punish those responsible forthe death of thousands in the late 1970s during die mili­ tary government's "dirty war" on Peronists and leftists. For an embittered, fearful and suddenly isolatedjewish community, there is no reason to believe diat the coun­ try's ugly recent history and what some are calling a botched, lackadaisical investigation are unrelated. Unfortunately, the case is not easily cracked —and the. sheer number of scenarios underlines how beleaguered the Jewish community is feeling. At first, the leading con­ tender was Hezbollah, the Islamic Party of God, the Iranian-sponsored organization that has been responsi­ ble for numerous terrorist attacks in Israel's security zone in soudiern Lebanon, as well as in Israel itself. The case against Hezbollah is intimately related to the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, Before it was destroyed by a bomb in July (above), the six-story an attack which killed 28. No arrests were made in diat Buenos Aires Jewish heaaquarterts known as AMIA was the community's nerve center, home to its day school network, case either, but Israel is convinced that Hezbollah was social organizations, burial societies and a priceless library. On responsible: The attack against the embassy occurred a August 16, Argentinian Jews took to the streets (opposite) to month after an Israeli attack-helicopter killed the mourn the 100 victims and to denounce terrorism. Hezbollah leader in Lebanon, Sheikh Abbas Musawi, together with his wife and son. Similarly, July's attack on AMIA occurred soon after Israel had ferences with various Arab factions, among attacked Hezbollah bases in southern whom there is some feeling that Menem Lebanon and had apprehended another has "betrayed them." Before his election, important Hezbollah leader, Mustafa Dirani. he boasted of his anti-Zionist position; Both the embassy bombing and the Libyan strongman Moammar Qacklafi con­ bombing of the AMIA, according to this tributed $4 million to Menem's 1989 pres­ reasoning, could have been revenge attacks idential campaign. Once in office, howev­ perpetrated by Hezbollah, each time using er, Menem completely changed his a car bomb operated by a suicide driver, a attitude, and in 1991 became the first modus operandi common in Lebanon Argentinian president to visit Israel, pre­ (reports say the police have identified some sumably to impress Washington. Menem's of the remains and clothing of the sus­ parents, incidentally, were Syrian immi­ pected driver in the AMIA investigation). grants who came to Argentina before he The charge against Hezbollah was ini­ was born. Menem converted from Islam to tially bolstered by the testimony of Catholicism as a youth. He and his wife Monousheh Moatamer, an Iranian defector Zulema were married in an Islamic cere­ who claimed close ties with the Iranian mony, and she has sometimes drawn criti­ foreign ministry. Four Iranian diplomats in cism for connections she maintains with Argentina were detained based on and favors she has performed for officials Moatamer's testimony, but were later in Damascus. The president himself, how­ released by the Argentina Supreme Court ever, is considered persona non grata in Syria because it found Moatamer unreliable. The because of his pro-Israel position. But influential Buenos Aires daily Clarin report­ bombing the AMIA to express dissatisfac­ ed that British diplomats were surprised tion with Menem's change in position that the Iranians were detained on die basis seems excessive and unlikely. of testimony of a source with so litde cred­ Although many of these foreign leads ibility. British sources told Clarin, "Moat­ seem to have run dry, the government, at amer is not what he says he is and we do not least in its public expressions, has practi­ believe his information to be true. It's a cally left aside the possibility that elements total bluff." Discredited, Moatamer was inside Argentina lay behind the attack or, at taken by United Nations' officials first to most, has relegated them to a secondary Ecuador, and ultimately die United States, role. President Menem's original response which he entered with the permission of to the AMIA bombing was to attribute the the U.S. State Department. attack to a combination of Nazi groups and Still, some see a motive in Hezbollah's to rebels from the Argentinian army which relationship with Iran, and their shared had revolted four times between 1987 and antipathy for the current Mideast peace 1990. But within four days of die attack he process. Israel has informed the United insisted that responsibility lay with outside Nations that "investigations of both elements, and announced diat he was giv­ attempts point clearly to Iranian participa­ ing Mossad, the Israeli intelligence ser­ tion." Thus far, however, the Iranian gov­ vice, absolute freedom in its investigation ernment has taken no concrete steps to in the belief that the perpetrators had obstruct the current peace process. come from overseas. Moreover, an attack in Argentina would Others, however, like the well-known hardly have much political impact on the investigative journalist Rogelio Garcia parties. If the aim were to unbalance the Lupo, continue to pursue the possibility of region, wouldn't it have been easier to carry "homegrown" terrorists. That trail also out an attack in, say, Jordan while Israeli picks up at the Israeli embassy bombing, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin or Foreign which occurred only five weeks after the Minister Shimon Peres were signing their Argentinian government opened its police various agreements with King Hussein? archives, sealed for more than 50 years, Others have tried to tie the bombing to regarding German Nazis in Argentina. other parts of the Arab world. Argentinian A few weeks before the bombing of the President Carlos Menem has had his dif­ AMIA, Italy had requested, the extradition 52 MOMENT • DECEMBER 1994 S °UOA N HI o a n Jewish demonstrators march in front of the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires, demanding that the authorities "confront terror" and bring the perpetrators of the AMIA bombing to justice. The demonstration takes place weekly, and is modeled on similar protests calling for the punishment of those who led the oppressive mili­ tary regime of the 1970s. of Erich Priebke, a captain in Hitler's SS, AMIA bombing, he was arrested after his given refuge in Argentina since 1948; wife accused him of participating in the Priebke was charged with giving the orders Israeli embassy attack. Investigators found in the murders of 335 Italian civilians dur­ no evidence linking him to the bombing, ing the Second World War. Al this writing, but they did find an arsenal in his home. the extradition case remains unresolved When brought before a judge after his and Priebke is still in Argentina. But his arrest, Sucksdorf declared "I'm a Nazi and case has once again raised the subject of the majority of the members of the Argentina's infamous role in harboring [Agentinian] army are Nazis." Nazis. Coincidentally or not, a Jewish Yet it is hard to tie all these tenuous con­ research committee investigating Nazi activ­ nections to the AMIA bombing in any log­ ities was scheduled to meet in the AMIA ical way. Close observers of the Nazi con­ building on the day of the bombing; their tingent in Argentina say it is highly lives were saved only because the meeting doubtful that they have the means to per­ was postponed. The community's own mas­ petrate an attack of this magnitude. sive documentation of the Nazi period was What about die Argentinian army itself kept in a separate building, and also sur­ and its allied intelligence services? Their vived the attack. prestige and standing in Argentinian soci­ Another possible Nazi connection ety have plummeted since the last military involves Alejandro Sucksdorf, a former government was ousted in 1983, and the Argentinian army intelligence sendee agent army's budget has been drastically reduced. and Nazi supporter. A short time before die continued on page SS DECEMBER 1994 • MOMENT S3 Argentina's Jews the army maintain a formidable pres­ eradicated. Eastern European Jews ence in organized crime, and the dead­ began immigrating en masse starting in continued /torn jmgc 53 ly attack on the AMIA would pose no the 1880s, and built a formidable net­ Yet the Argentinian army still includes moral or ethical problems for them. work of religious, social and charitable soldiers who were active between 1976 Ruben Beraja, head of DAIA, organizations. But a backlash came in and 1983, when the military regime liq­ Argentina's counterpart of the Anti- 1919, when Argentinian anti-Comm­ uidated its enemies in the name of Defamation League, has been demand­ unists staged a week-long pogrom combating terrorism of the extreme ing that Argentinian authorities fully against the "Russian" Jews, regardless of left. Anti-Semitism was an undeniably pursue these native connections. their politics. The president con­ important component of the regime, Homegrown anti-Semitism in Argen­ demned the attacks, and immigration and the ideology of its supporters has tina is like a chronic virus: often con­ continued apace through the 1920s.