Argentine Jews urge president to help solve terror attack 

Argentina’s Jewish leaders asked President Mauricio Macri to help solve the Iran-backed 1994 terror attack on the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association building, which killed 84 and injured dozens.

Jewish leaders asked President Mauricio Macri to help solve Argentina’s worst terrorist attack as the country observed the bombing’s 22^nd anniversary Monday.

The 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association collapsed the organization’s main building, killing 85 people and leaving hundreds injured in the rubble.

During the ceremony Monday, Macri, the first Argentine head of state to attend the event in five years, presented a flower wreath as sirens blared at 9:53 a.m. local time, the moment when 22 years ago the car bomb exploded, and the families of the victims held photographs of their loved ones.

Survivors also criticized previous governments for not solving the crime.

“The justice they deserved is as dead as them,” Sofia de Guterman said about her daughter, Andrea Guterman, and other victims during the ceremony held at the reconstructed building.

If those responsible don’t face justice, “we’ll soon have to issue a death certificate for the case itself,” Guterman said.

Prosecutors have accused Iranian officials of being behind the bombing, but no one has been convicted in the attack, which many Argentines believe has come to symbolize an inept and corrupt justice system.

“It’s been 22 years of not knowing what went on as a result of badly introduced evidence, other evidence that hasn’t even been considered, and documents that the executive power hid from judges,” Mario Cimadevilla, head of a special investigative unit focused on the attack, told local radio.

During the ceremony, some also called for answers in the mysterious death of the leading prosecutor investigating the case. Alberto Nisman’s body was discovered in his apartment Jan. 18, 2015, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Nisman was scheduled to go before Congress the next day to present allegations that then-President Cristina Fernandez orchestrated a secret deal to cover up Iranian officials’ alleged role in the attack. Fernandez denied it and judges later threw out the case.

A year and a half after Nisman’s death, authorities have yet to determine whether he took his own life or was killed by someone else.

Conspiracy theories swirl around the case. Some people believe Nisman killed himself because he felt his claims against Fernandez lacked proof. Others say he was slain because he was a threat to the Argentine and Iranian governments.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

Alberto NismanAMIA bombingArgentinaIranMacri