The president of the Argentine Supreme Court has excused himself from the investigation of the 1992 car bombing of the Israeli Embassy here that left 29 dead and more than 100 injured.
Justice Ricardo Levene, 82, stepped down from the case in the wake of criticism from the Israeli ambassador and from the leader of the Argentine Jewish community about the slow pace of the investigation.
On Nov. 1, Ruben Beraja, president of the Jewish umbrella organization DAIA, called the investigation “fossilized” adding that there were “no arrests, no evidence gathered.”
Beraja called on Levene to remove himself from the case.
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Aviran was similarly critical two days later, saying that “not much has been done to investigate the case.”
One Argentine official called Aviran’s criticism “without precedent for an ambassador.”
Similar criticisms have also been waged by the local Jewish leadership and by Jewish officials abroad over what they charge is the equally slow pace of the Argentine legal system’s investigation of the July 18, 1994, bombing of the AMIA building, the Jewish community’s headquarters here.
That attack left 87 dead and at least 300 wounded.
The Argentine government has so far failed to name anyone as a perpetrator of either bombing.
In the wake of Levene’s brief note announcing his decision to step down, the high court is expected to convene this week to accept the decision and to designate a new justice to take on the case.
Under Argentine law, the Supreme Court has sole authority in investigating cases involving foreign diplomats and embassies.
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