The fact that Argentina has decided to create a “truth commission” with Iran to investigate the 1994 terror bombing that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds of others at the AMIA, a major Jewish center in Buenos Aires, is an outrage. Bad enough that Argentina has bungled the case — the worst bombing in the country’s history — for more than 18 years, with President Nestor Kirchner declaring in 2005 that the various investigations, which to this day have not led to a conviction, were “a national disgrace.”
Numerous reports have show Iran’s fingerprints all over the deadly attack.
In 2006, Argentine prosecutors formally accused Iran of orchestrating the bombing, said to be carried out by Hezbollah members. Since that time Interpol has sought six Iranian officials, one of whom is now Iran’s defense minister, in regard to the attack.
Now the government of Argentina is partnering with the government it holds responsible for the tragedy in investigating what took place.
“Truth commission” indeed.
As David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, noted this week, that’s “like asking Nazi Germany to help establish the facts of Kristallnacht.” He said it was “offensive” not only to the families of those murdered or wounded but “to the entire Argentine nation, which for the last 18 years has sought justice.”
The government in Buenos Aires has become a partner to its own tragedy and cover-up. And as long as the government of Iran is allowed to participate fully in the United Nations and in normal international relations, despite its long record of sponsoring terror in the Mideast and around the world, hypocrisy and false justice remain the order of the day.
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