by Isi Leibler
That the current Argentine leaders could collaborate with such cynical whitewashing of the murder of their own fellow citizens and create a "truth commission" with a barbaric regime promoting Holocaust denial, warranted the condemnation of the Argentine government by the civilized world.
The assassination of
Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman reflects the endemic corruption of
the Kirchner regime and focuses the spotlight on the devil's pact
consummated by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in 2013 with
Iran, whose leaders inflicted the worst ever act of terrorism on her
own citizens.
Today there are
approximately 250,000 Jews in Argentina. Since the days of Juan Peron,
the government's attitude to Jews has been ambivalent. Peron displayed
friendship to the Jewish community but enabled Argentina to serve as a
haven for the most evil of Nazi war criminals -- including Adolf
Eichmann.
In March 1992, the
Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was the target of a terrorist bomb
attack that killed 29 and wounded 242 people. Two years later, in July
1994, a second bombing was directed at the Jewish community center
(AMIA), killing 85 and injuring hundreds.
There were protracted
investigations and eventually two Argentine prosecutors, Alberto Nisman
and Marcelo Burgos, formally accused the Iranian government of
orchestrating the attacks and utilizing Hezbollah agents to carry out
the bombing. In 2007, the Argentine government even issued arrest
warrants for six Iranians, including former Defense Minister Ahmad
Vahidi and former President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. They were placed on
Interpol's "Red List" of wanted criminals. None were apprehended and,
not surprisingly, Iran adamantly refused to cooperate.
Subsequently,
prosecutor Nisman exposed a cover-up in which a judge was impeached for
bribery. There were also allegations that the Iranian intelligence
service had deposited $10 million in a Swiss bank account held by
former Argentine President Carlos Menem in return for his hushing up
the affair, and in March 2012 he was ordered to stand trial for
obstruction of justice.
In 2005, President Nestor Kirchner described Argentina's failure to move forward in this matter as a "national disgrace."
But on January 27,
2013, his widow and successor, President Cristina Kirchner, in a
shocking reversal, consummated 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 were any doubts as to the outcome, the statement unabashedly
stressed that the project would be "based on the laws and regulations
of both countries."
In a formal
declaration, 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 nuclear power.
That the current
Argentine leaders could collaborate with such cynical whitewashing of
the murder of their own fellow citizens and create a "truth commission"
with a barbaric regime promoting Holocaust denial, warranted the
condemnation of the Argentine government by the civilized world.
This pact with the
devil was clearly motivated by Argentina's economic crisis and its
escalating debts to the World Bank and other global institutions. This
was preceded by media reports alleging that Argentine Foreign Minister
Hector Timerman had offered to freeze the AMIA inquiry in return for an
upgrade in economic relations with Iran, exchanging Argentine grain
for Iranian oil. Timerman was also said to have proposed that Syrian
President Bashar Assad act as an intermediary to facilitate such a
deal. A leaked cable from Iran's then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
explicitly stated, "Argentina is no longer interested in solving those
two attacks, but in exchange prefers improving its economic relations
with Iran."
Israel's then-Deputy
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon stated that "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."
This led to an enraged
response by Timerman, 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."
Timerman was a former
Argentine ambassador to the US who promoted himself as both a human
rights activist and a committed Jew. It is noteworthy that his father
Jacobo, an Argentine Jew and editor of a leftist weekly news magazine,
was arrested in 1977 by the right-wing military junta, held in solitary
confinement, and tortured.
Through the secret
intervention of Israeli authorities, he was released in 1979 and came to
Israel, where he documented his persecution in Argentina in a book
titled "Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number."
But he turned on his
benefactors and in 1983 published a second book, brutally attacking
Israel's policies and accusing Prime Minister Menachem Begin of
destroying the moral integrity of the Jewish people, transforming
Israelis into "efficient criminals." He even compared Israel to the
fascist government of Argentina that had incarcerated and tortured him.
Shortly after publishing his tirade, he returned to Argentina and died
in Buenos Aires in 1999.
His hatred of Israel --
the country that saved his life -- was bequeathed to his son Hector,
who as foreign minister played a central role in the loathsome effort
on behalf of the Argentine regime to sanitize the Iranian murderers of
his own people.
Prosecutor Nisman
resisted and dedicated himself to obtaining justice for the victims of
the terrorist bombings and bringing the perpetrators to trial. In
recent years, he also displayed determination to expose the
government's attempt to cover up the Iranian involvement.
I met Nisman in
Jerusalem in 2008 when he addressed the Jerusalem Center for Public
Affairs. His report of the Iranian involvement was chilling and I
recollect remarking to him that he was extremely courageous to engage
in such a struggle.
Only hours before his
murder, Nisman was scheduled to report his findings to the Argentine
National Congress. A 289-page report charging Kirchner and Timerman for
conspiring to divert action against Iranian officials responsible for
the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing, was discovered in his home. It was
based on extensive wiretaps of conversations by both Kirchner and
Timerman. There was also a draft warrant for their arrest.
Kirchner initially
responded to the death by calling it a "suicide" but subsequently
claimed it was a murder perpetrated by rogue intelligence agencies
seeking to discredit her.
Immediately following
Nisman's murder, posters appeared in Jewish neighborhoods proclaiming
"A good Jew is a dead Jew. The good Jew is Nisman." The Jewish
community, under enormous pressure and traditionally quite timid, on
this occasion responded more assertively. Tens of thousands took to the
streets protesting with the theme "Je suis Nisman." Community leaders
refused to participate in an official Holocaust Remembrance Day
ceremony at the Foreign Ministry, saying, "It would be an insult to
Holocaust victims to attend." There was bitter condemnation of
Timerman, "who is both an Argentine and a Jew who is suspected of
plotting to cast darkness on the investigation to solve the AMIA
bombing" and there were calls from the Jewish community for him to be
expelled.
But aside from
lamenting the death of a courageous prosecutor, there is little
likelihood that the perpetrators will ever be brought to justice.
This shocking episode
reflects the precariousness of Jewish life, not merely in Europe but
also in Latin America, and once again highlights the relevance of
aliyah for Jews who will not reconcile themselves to bringing up
children in societies that regard them as pariahs.
While there are bitter
recriminations in Argentina over the failure to indict the Iranian
terrorists responsible for the AMIA bombings, Secretary of State John
Kerry -- under instructions from his president -- is desperately
seeking to consummate a deal that would at best enable the regime
responsible for this outrage to become a threshold nuclear state. That
the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his spokesmen to this day publicly
announce that their intention is to replicate their barbaric act
against the Argentine Jewish community and wipe Israel off the face of
the map is shamelessly ignored. Kirchner prostituted her nation for
economic gain. U.S. President Barack Obama does so because of his
obsession to engage with rogue states.
Isi Leibler's website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=11541
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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