On the morning of July 18, 1994, a van pulled up to the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters in Buenos Aires.
It was packed with what is suspected to be approximately 275 kilograms of fertilizer and TNT.
The subsequent explosion destroyed the seven-story building, killed 85 people and wounded 300.
The AMIA was a Jewish community institute that included employment services and contained a library of rare books.
The facility also hosted meetings for an organization called Project Witness, a group examining Argentine collaboration with Nazis in the aftermath of World War II.
The driver, who was killed in the explosion, was tentatively identified as Ibrahim Hussein Berro.
He was a Lebanese citizen with ties to Hezbollah.
In May 2013, the general prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, charged with investigating the bombing, issued an indictment directly implicating Iran in the attack.
JACK CARR’S TAKE ON TERRORISM IN THE SKIES ON JUNE 14, 1985: CREW WAS ‘NOTHING SHORT OF HEROIC’
In early January 2015, he accused the then-president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and other top officials, of covering up Iranian involvement in the AMIA bombing in exchange for lucrative trade deals involving grain and oil with Iran.
Days later, and just hours before he was to present lawmakers with evidence implicating Kirchner in obstructing the investigation, Alberto Nisman’s body was found in his apartment with a single gunshot to the head.
A pistol was by his side.
(Follow Jack Carr on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jackcarrusa.)
“The single deadliest anti-semitic attack in more than half a century, the AMIA bombing underscored Hezbollah’s global ambitions and is a clear example of Iran’s support of international terrorism,” said the U.S. State Department in a press statement two years ago as it remembered the victims of the attack.
“High-level Iranian government officials were directly implicated in the attack, and Hezbollah carried it out at the direction of the Iranian regime,” said then-spokesperson Ned Price in a press release in July 2022.
“While no one responsible for the attack has been brought to justice, the United States believes all Argentines deserve to have those responsible held accountable for this despicable and cowardly attack.”
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He also said, “The United States is committed to countering Hezbollah and Iran’s malign influence. The funding, training, weapons, and other support Iran provides Hezbollah support complex and heinous terrorist attacks like these.”
He added, “The callous murder of civilians must not stand.”
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel, the Associated Press noted recently.
