Israeli minister: Nisman killed for exposing Iranian role in Argentina bombing

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) —Israel’s Agriculture Minister blamed Iran for two terrorist attacks in Argentina in the ’90s and said prosecutor Alberto Nisman died because he tried to reveal the truth on the matter.

Yair Shamir reiterated Israel’s position on the attacks on Thursday, when he visited the Argentine capital as the head of a delegation to commemorate the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy that killed 29 people and wounded hundreds. In addition to that attack, Israel has also blamed Iran for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community building in 1994.

“Very regrettably, another tragedy has occurred in Buenos Aires with the death of Alberto Nisman, blessed be his memory, whose attempt to get to the truth cost him his life,” Shamir said during an address attended by 500 people in Buenos Aires.

Four days before he was found shot dead on Jan. 18, Nisman, a prosecutor who oversaw the AMIA bombing investigation, had accused Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and other top government officials of orchestrating a secret deal to cover up the alleged role of several Iranians in the 1994 attack.

Iran has denied any involvement in the attack.

Nisman’s death is the subject of an ongoing investigation, but officials handling the probe say they have not found evidence proving he was murdered.

“Iran continues to sow destruction and horror in all the world, but the world continues on as if nothing was happening,” Shamir said.

The son of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Yair Shamir said the world takes on a “hypocritical attitude” that ignores the fact that Iran is targeting “the civilized world, including Israel.”

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