Israel has summoned the Argentinian ambassador in protest over an agreement between Iran and Argentina to jointly investigate the terror bombing in 1994 of the AMIA Jewish community center and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Bueons Aires.”
"This agreement undermines the investigation of the bombings," the Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The ambassador was summoned "to provide explanations for this, his government's latest move," he added.
The agreement between Argentina and Iran was received in Israel with "astonishment" and "deep disappointment."
Israel's Ambassador in Buenos Aires, Dorit Shavit, is to request a meeting with Argentinian Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman, in order to clarify the motivations for the move.
Jerusalem deplored that that Argentina had not responded to Israel’s requests to be kept informed of the diplomatic moves with Iran, nor of how Argentina envisaged bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The Buenos Aires bombing, which devastated the AMIA headquarters, is considered the worst terrorist attack in Argentina. It was carried out by a suicide bomber who drove a van full of explosives into the building, killing 85 people and wounding about 300. Two years earlier, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 29.
A special Argentinian prosecutor who took over the investigation in 2005 accused Hezbollah, the Shiite Lebanese group, of carrying out the community center bombing and accused senior Iranian officials of planning and financing it.
Iran has refused to carry out international arrest warrants for nine people Argentine investigators suspect in the attacks. Under the agreement with Argentina, Iran will now permit prosecutors to interrogate suspects in Tehran.
These suspects include former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Iran’s current Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said the Argentina-Iran agreement “is like inviting a murderer to investigate the killings he committed.”
Israel has also said that Iran was behind attacks on Israeli Embassy personnel in India and Georgia last year. Israeli and American officials then accused Iranian-backed Hezbollah of responsibility for the deadly attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria in July.
"Forming a 'Truth Commission' which does not fall under Argentine law governing criminal proceedings marks a decline of our sovereignty," said a statement issued by Argentina's two main Jewish groups, AMIA and DAIA.
"This is a setback for obtaining justice," it said.
ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman issued a statement slamming the newly-launched joint ‘Truth Commission’ as “an unprecedented attempt to establish a mechanism with no enforcement powers to internationalize the criminal proceedings against Iranian nationals with ties to the world’s most notorious state sponsor of terrorism which have been pursued for years by professional Argentine prosecutors”.
The move adds further bureaucracy to the judicial process, alleged Foxman, “and may even eliminate, the possibility of bringing the accused Iranian perpetrators of the terrorist attack to justice under Argentine law”, as he called on Argentinian President Kirchner to reverse his decision to cooperate with the Iranian regime.
“The prolonged pain and suffering of the survivors and the families of the victims of the most devastating terror attack on a Jewish institution in the Western hemisphere are all but forgotten in this ill-considered agreement,” concluded the official comment.
Meanwhile, at a daily press briefing in Washington, US State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland strove for a more diplomatic response to the initiative, as she expressed America’s desire for justice, as well as insisting that “the Iranian Government has a responsibility to cooperate fully with Argentine authorities in seeing that the perpetrators are brought to justice”.
Conceding the Iranian government had not “been forthcoming” to this end, she expressed moderate cynicism about the likelihood of the commission hastening the justice process, as she concluded that “if the Argentine government thinks that this might take us closer to that, then we’ll have to see”.
In Israel, the Association of Terror Victims urged the US Secretary of State « to pressure the Argentine government to put an end to this dangerous farce. »
"Aside from the grotesqueness of involving a murderer in the investigation of his murders, this development is dangerous. According to the intelligence advisement that we have received, Iranian involvement in the investigation is liable to expose the methods that have been used by Argentina, the US, and other states to hunt down Iranian terrorists and their agents," the association said.
Argentina earned a reputation for opening its doors to Jewish immigration, which it did so until 1938, when the government instituted new legislation preventing the flow of immigrants at a time of Nazi aggression in Europe.
The Jewish community feared the rise to power of nationalist leader Juan Peron in 1946, when Argentina became a safe haven for Nazis seeking refuge from prosecution. Final Solution architect Adolf Eichmann moved to Argentina after the war, where he lived until his capture by Israeli Mossad agents in 1960. After Peron conversely established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1949, huge waves of Argentinian Jews began emigrating to the Jewish State.
The Jewish population of Argentina currently stands at approximately 300,000, the largest in Latin America, the majority of whom live in the capital.