In July 1994 agents of the Iranian regime under the direct orders of the Iranian government bombed the Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina killing 85 innocent individuals and injuring more than 300 others. For the last 19 years the Jewish community in Argentina has been pressing its government and the international community to bring the masterminds behind this heinous crime to justice, but they have thus far failed. To the contrary, each government in Argentina since 1994 has been seeking to cozy up to the totalitarian radical Islamic mullahs ruling Iran for obvious economic benefits. Yet the Jewish center bombing has remained a thorn in the sides of presidents and leaders in Argentina who have been pushing hard to normalize relations with Iran. No president until the current Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has been able to remove this obstacle to closer relations with the Iranian regime.
Kirchner’s dream of final normalized relations with Iran took a “positive” step forward when in January of this year her foreign minister Héctor Timerman and the Iranian foreign minister signed a “memorandum of understanding” to establish a joint bi-national “truth commission” that would once and for all investigate the causes of the 1994 Jewish center bombings in Buenos Aires. For the Jewish community in Argentina and to the rest of the normal world, this “truth commission” made up of Argentine and Iranian hand-picked officials is nothing more than a “sham” effort by both governments to clear the names of former and current Iranian government officials involved with the planning and execution of the 1994 Jewish center bombings in Buenos Aires. This past week the joint Argentine-Iranian “truth commission” was finally approved by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and will likely move forward with findings that individuals such as former Iranian intelligence chief Ali Fallahian; Mohsen Rabbani, the former cultural attache at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires; former Iran diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari; Mohsen Rezaei, the former leader of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards; Ahmad Vahidi, the current Iranian defense minister and former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were “not responsible” for the bombings.
Shame on Argentina’s Kirchner and her government cronies for turning a blind eye to the clear evidence of blood on the hands of Iran’s current and former officials! Shame on Kirchner for rubber stamping a false investigation into the Buenos Aires Jewish center bombing! Shame on Kirchner for placing Argentina’s “economic growth” and “trade relations” with Iran over the most important need to bring the Iranian murderers of innocent individuals to justice! Shame on Kirchner for sweeping this heinous 1994 crime under the rug in an effort to cozy up to the ruthless mullahs running Iran’s regime! Shame on Kirchner and her government cronies for ignoring the clear evidence that Iranian agents and leaders clearly planned and carried out the 1994 Jewish center bombing!
The evidence of Iran’s clear links to the 1994 Jewish center bombings in Buenos Aires are known to all. In November 2006, Argentine federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral issued an arrest warrant for Rafsanjani and eight other former Iranian officials based on evidence collected by the police and prosecutors. Then in March 2007, the international police agency, Interpol issued so-called “Red notices” for the arrest of five former Iranian officials based on the Argentine courts’ findings in the case. Also in an interview in September 2007 with Fox cable news, Miguel Angel Toma, the former head of the Argentina’s intelligence service, revealed that the Iranian government directly ordered terrorist bombings of the Buenos Aires Jewish community center. The Iranian President at the time of the bombing, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of the Iranian Supreme Council of Security all met in Mashhad, Iran, on August 14, 1993 to plan the bombing, Toma said.
So there is obviously no need for a joint Argentine-Iranian “truth commission” surrounding the case of the Jewish center bombing and this sham commission is obviously set up by Kirchner and her cronies to “smooth things over” with the Iranian government. One might wonder why Kirchner seeks normal relations with Iran’s brutal totalitarian regime? Well the pieces of the puzzle fit quite well when you look at the situation through Kirchner’s eyes. First and foremost, the normalization of relations between Argentina and Iran will likely boost Argentina’s current lacking economy. This is because the Iranian regime, which is under significant international sanctions pressure, is unable to purchase raw materials and goods from most countries, but the regime will now have a willing seller of such materials and goods in Argentina. Likewise the Argentine government under Kirchner is seeking to purchase Iranian oil which is also quite cheap nowadays as again many countries worldwide are following tightened sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil. In addition, the Argentine government under Kirchner would love to sell arms, aircraft and military supplies to the regime in Iran which is again more than eager acquire such weaponery and has the cash to purchase them. Throughout the 1980’s Argentina ignored international arms sanctions against Iran’s regime and sold weapons to the Iran’s ruling clerics during their bloody war with Iraq. No doubt Kirchner would like to renew those old lucrative arms deals with the Iranian regime. Moreover, many are not aware, but Argentina is home to one of the largest growing populations of Shiite Muslims of Lebanese origin– many of whom are very sympathetic to Iran’s Shiite clerics. No doubt Kirchner wants to make nice with Iran’s regime in an effort to curry favor with Shiite Muslims living in Argentina. Lastly, Kirchner, who is an American-hating socialist leader, wants to forge alliances with other regimes such as Iran and Venezuela who “oppose American and Western imperialism”. With the death of Venezuela’s late dictator Hugo Chavez, Kirchner today picks up and carries the evil Latin American torch for kissing up to the Iran regime.
In the end, I am honestly not surprised that Kirchner or other Argentine government officials would seek friendships with anti-Jewish individuals and regimes like Iran. After all Argentina’s dictators such as Juan Peron and others were notorious for offering safe haven to countless Nazis and Nazi sympathizers for decades after World War II. It’s clearly no surprise that again heartless Argentina leaders like Kirchner are turning their backs on the Jewish community and on real justice for their own financial gain.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.