Jewish World Review /August 5, 1999 /23 Av, 5759
Argentine bombing
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.
“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.
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.
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
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency contributed to this report.
probe widens
By Michael Shapiro
Washington Jewish Week
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.
Michael Shapiro is a staff reporter for
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