Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner has jettisoned whatever was left of her
country’s moral standing by consummating a devil’s pact with Iran, whose leaders
were responsible for having inflicted the worst-ever act of terrorism on her own
citizens.
In March 1992, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires suffered a
terrorist bombing which killed 29 and wounded 242 people. Two years later, in
July 1994, a second bombing targeted the Jewish community center (AMIA) killing
85 and injuring hundreds.
There were protracted investigations and
eventually two Argentinian prosecutors, Alberto Nisman and Marcelo Burgos,
formally accused the Iranian government of orchestrating the attacks. In 2007
the Argentinian government even issued arrest warrants for six Iranians accused
of involvement, one of whom, Ahmad Vahidi, is currently the defense minister,
and another of whom is former president Ali Rafsanjani.
They were placed
on Interpol’s “red” list of wanted criminals. None of them were apprehended and,
not surprisingly, Iran adamantly refused to cooperate.
Over time,
evidence emerged exposing corruption and indicating that a cover-up had taken
place. A judge was impeached for bribery and there were allegations that the
Iranian intelligence service had deposited $10 million in a Swiss bank account
held by former president Carlos Menem in return for his hushing up the affair.
In March 2012, Menem was ordered to stand trial for obstruction of justice, but
to date there has been no further progress.
In 2005, president Nester
Kirchner, the late husband of the current president, described Argentina’s
failure to move forward in this matter as a “national disgrace.”
But now,
his widow and successor, President Cristina Kirchner, in a shocking reversal,
has brought Argentinian political decadence to a climax by consummating a pact
with the Iranians to create a joint “truth commission” in order to investigate
the AMIA terrorist attack by the “judicial authorities of Argentina and Iran...
and issue a report with recommendations about how the case should proceed.” Lest
there be any doubt as to the outcome, the statement unashamedly stressed that
the project would be “based on the laws and regulations of both
countries.”
Ironically, President Kirchner announced this diabolical pact
with the murderers of Argentinian civilians, who were targeted as Jews, on
January 27, International Holocaust Memorial Day.
Furthermore, in her
statement President Kirchner stressed that she would “never allow the AMIA
tragedy to be used as a chess piece in a game of faraway geopolitical interests”
– clearly conveying Argentina’s opposition to efforts to prevent Iran from
obtaining a nuclear bomb.
THAT THE Argentinian leaders could collaborate
with such a cynical whitewashing of the murder of their own citizens and create
a “truth commission” with a wretched, despotic, Holocaust denying regime should
lead to the condemnation of the Argentinian government by the civilized world.
It should be viewed as even worse than the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez, known to be
one of Argentina’s principal allies and funders.
Underlying this move are
the economic problems Argentina is facing in relation to its debts to the World
Bank and other global institutions. As far back as March 2011, there were media
reports alleging that Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman had offered
to freeze the AMIA inquiry in return for an upgrade in economic relations with
Iran. It was also alleged that Timmerman had proposed that Syrian President
Bashar Assad could act as an intermediary to facilitate such a deal. A
purportedly leaked cable from Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Salehi was quoted
stating, “Argentina is no longer interested in solving those two attacks, but in
exchange prefers improving its economic relations with Iran.”
The current
Argentinian Jewish communal leaders are a far cry from their courageous
predecessors who led the community until the 1980s. Yet, despite being
intimidated by Timmerman, they still conveyed muted distress concerning their
government’s shameful whitewash of the Iranians responsible for the cold-blooded
murder of their kinsmen.
The Israeli foreign ministry expressed bitter
disappointment and shock and summoned the Argentinian ambassador.
Deputy
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon stated that “Argentina’s move did more than evoke
shock and concern in Israel... It was clear to all that the Iranians and their
Hezbollah minions were involved in the attack” and that bringing the Iranians
into the so-called “truth commission” was equivalent to “inviting the murderer
to participate in a murder investigation.”
According to a report in
Haaretz, this resulted in an enraged, almost hysterical response by Foreign
Minister Timmerman, who summoned the Israeli ambassador, Dorit Shavit, and
accused her government of providing “ammunition to anti-Semites who accused Jews
of dual loyalties.” He added “Israel has no right to demand explanations. We are
a sovereign state and Israel is not entitled to speak on behalf of the Jewish
people and does not represent it.”
Shavit responded that Israel was
entitled to be concerned about the welfare of Jews throughout the world and
reminded Timmerman about his own family’s relationship with
Israel.
Timmerman’s father Jacobo, an Argentinian Jew, had been the
editor of La Opinion, a leftist weekly news magazine.
His involvement
with a questionable investment banker was either the basis or the pretext for
being arrested by the right-wing military junta controlling the country at the
time. He was subject to torture and held in solitary confinement. He alleged,
probably with just cause, that anti-Semitism was a factor in his arrest but lost
the plot when he argued that the right-wing military dictatorship represented a
genocidal threat to the Jews.
It was as a result of the secret
intervention of Israeli authorities, including the ambassador, that he was
released in 1979 and came to Israel where he wrote a book outlining his
persecution in Argentina titled Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a
Number.
However, a few years later in 1983 he published a second book
brutally attacking Israel’s policies in relation to the Lebanon war and accusing
prime minister Menachem Begin of destroying the moral integrity of the Jewish
people and transforming Israelis into “efficient criminals.” He compared Israel
to the fascist government of Argentina which had incarcerated and tortured him
and called for a tribunal of Diaspora Jews to pass moral judgment on Israel’s
leaders and the IDF. Shortly after publishing his tirade, he left Israel and
died in Buenos Aires in 1999.
His hatred and lack of appreciation to
Israel for saving his life was bequeathed to his son, Hector. Prior to becoming
foreign minister, Hector’s Jewish background is alleged to have been a major
factor contributing to his appointment as Argentina’s consul-general in New
York, where he developed relations with influential members of the Jewish
community.
As foreign minister, Timmerman presents himself as a devoted
supporter of human rights. Yet he played a central role on behalf of the
Argentinian regime in sanitizing the Iranian murderer of his own people.
Orchestrating such a pact with one of the world’s worst abusers of human rights
makes a mockery of his moral pretensions.
He also clearly relishes
attacking Israel, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the Jewish state was
responsible for saving his father’s life. Only last month, he compared the UK’s
control of the Falkland Islands, which Argentina claims, to Israel’s “colonial”
control of the West Bank.
It is nauseating to see such despicable
behavior by the Argentinian government being implemented by a politically
far-left Jewish scoundrel.
The writer’s website can be viewed at
www.wordfromjerusalem.com.
He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com