Argentine President Mauricio Macri’s decision to abandon an agreement that could have absolved Iran of responsibility for the AMIA center bombing in Buenos Aires was praised Sunday by Israel and the World Jewish Congress.
According to reports, Macri honored his pledge given during the election campaign last month and in a conversation with the World Jewish Congress in June 2014 that he would not to appeal a court ruling against Iran in the July 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured more than 300. Argentina’s judiciary believes that senior Iranian officials at the time ordered and masterminded the attack.
The administration of Macri’s predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had intended to appeal the ruling, but the Peronist party candidate was beaten by Macri in last November’s run-off. Macri was sworn in last Thursday.
“This is a welcome change of direction, and I hope that we will see a significant improvement in Israeli-Argentine ties, as well as an improvement in ties with other South American countries in the coming years,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“For almost three years, the Argentine Jewish community, with the active support of the World Jewish Congress and our Latin American branch, the Latin American Jewish Congress, campaigned to have this deal rescinded. Today, our efforts have borne fruit. This flawed agreement with Iran should never have been signed in the first place, and we are glad that the new government has now canceled it,” Robert Singer, CEO of the World Jewish Congress, told the ‘Jerusalem Post’.
Deal 'akin to letting criminal investigate the crime'
The Argentine government in January 2013 reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would have created a joint truth commission with Iran to investigate the bombing. The MoU was sharply criticized by the Argentine Jewish community as well as Western countries, including Israel. It led to a steep decline in relations between Israel and Argentina, with accusations that for Iran to have a role in investigating the bombing was akin to letting “the criminal investigate the crime.”
Argentine law forbids trying suspects in absentia. Analysts say it is unclear how Argentina can prosecute the case as there is no apparent legal way to interview the Iranian suspects.
