Small World

Jewish World Review /August 5, 1999 /23 Av, 5759

Argentine bombing
probe widens


By Michael Shapiro
Washington Jewish Week

TWO INDIVIDUALS currently in the United States are expected to testify in Argentina in the next several weeks as part of the continuing investigation into the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, according to Argentinian Jewish leaders.

While Rogelio Cichowolsky, president of the Jewish umbrella group known as the DAIA, did not know the identities of the two individuals, he said the decision to have them testify came out of meetings held here two weeks ago between Argentinian Supreme Court officials investigating the bombing and American intelligence and security officials.

Econophone “We are confident that these two testimonies plus other documents that will be provided to the Argentinian authorities will probably mean significant progress in the investigation,” Cichowolsky said last week while in Washington to meet with members of Congress and officials at the FBI, National Security Council and the State Department.

Argentinian Ambassador to the United States Diego Ramiro Guelar refused to comment on the possible testimony during an interview last week with Washington Jewish Week.

An FBI spokeswoman also refused to comment, saying the investigation is a “pending case.” A State Department spokesman also could not comment on the possible witnesses.

Cichowolsky said he is hopeful that information provided in the expected testimony concerning the embassy bombing case also will help in the investigation of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, since he believes “the two bombings were one terrorist attack in two stages because the method is the same; those responsible, those who ordered, those who executed it are the same. They come from the same place, and they have the same stamp on it.”

The United States, Israel and Argentina accuse Iranian-backed terrorists of the bombings, charges that Iran has denied.

The bombing of the Israeli Embassy left 29 dead, while the attack on the AMIA building — which happened a little over five years ago — killed 86.

Alfredo Nueburger, the former executive director of the DAIA whose office was blown up in the AMIA attack and who was spared only because he was at a meeting outside the building, said he expected the individuals to go to Argentina in the next “few weeks” to testify in a closed-door hearing.

“We believe that they are or will be in the witness protection program,” he said. It is unclear whether the two individuals are American citizens or foreign nationals in the United States.

Leiters Sukkah But as Argentina’s Jewish community marked the fifth anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA building, Argentinian officials are defending the government’s handling of the case, which has been criticized for moving slowly and for failing to follow important leads.

The arrests of 20 people who will stand trial for their involvement in the AMIA case have raised hopes in some quarters that more will be known about the local connection to the terrorists. Of the 20 to be tried later this year or in early 2000 — a group whose ranks include no fewer than 15 policemen — five are thought to be “necessary parties to the bombing” and face charges of murder, conspiracy and corruption. According to news reports, Interior Minister Carlos Corach told reporters Monday that the government is doing all it can with regard to the AMIA bombing.

“There can be nothing more clear than the government’s wish to clarify this tragedy,” he said.

But in his fifth annual report for the American Jewish Committee on the status of the AMIA investigation, Argentine journalist Sergio Kiernan describes the past 12 months as “a quiet year.”

He does, however, highlight several developments in addition to the expected testimony of the two key foreign witnesses:

• The official in charge of the investigation, Federal Judge Juan Jose Galeano, in a surprise move and with little material proof, accused the Iran-supported terrorist group Hezbollah of being involved in both bombings;

•Those to be tried have lost all appeals before other courts;

•The supervising court in the case ordered Galeano to carry out a reconstruction of the bombing to take place later this month or in early August.


In an interview with Kiernan, an attorney volunteering to represent AMIA in the investigation, Luis Dobniewsky, expressed hope that the trial of the 20 accomplices will enable Galeano to advance a full probe into the bombing.

But a founder of Memoria Activa, a group representing relatives of the victims, was pessimistic, saying that in the absence of public pressure to move the case forward, it “will effectively die with the trial.”

Criticizing Galeano as having ignored the pleas of the relatives of the dead to undertake numerous investigative procedures, Diana Malamud said the judge “did not want to carry out a reconstruction of the bombing: we had to force him to do so” by appealing to a higher court.

Malamud, whose husband died in the attack, was one of the thousands of people who attended a memorial ceremony Sunday in Buenos Aires, during which a siren sounded at 9:53 a.m., the exact moment of the 1994 bombing.

A reported 3,000 gathered at the new bomb-proof AMIA building, erected on the spot where the old building was destroyed.

This year’s ceremony was reportedly “unusually angry,” as family members criticized the investigation’s slow progress, and the crowd responded with whistles and jeers.

The mood at the New York memorial service, which was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, was similarly one of disappointment and frustration. The New York gathering was held across the street from the Argentinian Consulate in a deliberate attempt to demand justice.

About 50 people — many carrying signs with photographs of the bombing victims — braved intense noontime heat to listen to speeches by political, religious and civic figures, including Jewish and Christian clergy and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.).

Ralph Goldman, whose son, David Ben Raphael, was killed in the March 17, 1992, bombing of the Israeli Embassy, said his son was killed “because he was a Jew and an Israeli.”

Goldman, the honorary vice president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, believes there are international perpetrators as well as local authorities and police whom Argentina has not investigated.

He said he did not “find a will on the part of Argentine authorities to pursue this.”

“There is a cynicism about the way they are pursuing justice,” he said. While Nueburger, the former executive director of the AMIA, told WJW that there have been mistakes in the handling of the investigations by Argentinian officials, “we have no doubts that they would like to solve the cases and they are doing whatever they can.”

Nueburger also dismissed criticism by some Argentinian Jews that community leaders need to be more aggressive in pushing the government to solve the cases.

“There are sectors of the community that believe effectiveness is measured by the loudness of your screams,” he said. “We believe in effectiveness. We believe in day-to-day work in the courts, politically, lobbying and not how vociferous you are in a public rally.”

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency contributed to this report.


Michael Shapiro is a staff reporter for Washington Jewish Week. Let him know what you think by clicking here.

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