Argentina marked the 13th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
President Nestor Kirchner and his wife, Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, joined other government officials and Jewish leaders from Argentina, Israel, Chile and Uruguay for a ceremony at the site of the attack, which killed 85 and wounded more than 300. A shofar was sounded followed by a moment of silence to mark the moment of the attack at 9:53 a.m.
At the ceremony, AMIA President Luis Grynwald urged Kirchner to sever diplomatic ties with Iran, which sponsored the bombing, according to experts familiar with the case.
“Mr. President, the participation of Iranian officials is proved,” Grynwald said. “Thus we repeat our demand: We ask the government to break relations with Iran.†Though arrest warrants have been issued for some former Iranian officials, none have been brought to justice. Some secondary participants have been sent to prison, but the perpetrators of the bombing remain at large.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
