News Brief

World Jewish Congress leaders met with Argentina’s president to push for action on finding the AMIA Jewish center bombers.

WJC leaders meeting Wednesday with Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner also expressed concern about radical Islamic incursions in Latin America and the need to expose younger generations to multicultural education. Their three-day trip, which concludes Thursday, also included meetings with the bombng victims’ relatives’ group Familiares, as well Argentine lawmakers, the mayor of Buenos Aires and that city’s archbishop.

WJC President Ronald Lauder’s meeting with some of the relatives of the victims of the 1994 bombing lasted 30 minutes more than planned in the AMIA headquarters building. The relatives told JTA ithat it is important to them to find international leaders receptive to their suffering. No one has been brought to justice in the terror attack, which killed 85 and injured 300. “Terrorism only survives if it receives some help,” Lauder said later at a news conference.

“It was a cordial meeting,” WJC Secretary-General Michael Schneider told JTA the meeting with Kirchner was “cordial.”

Lauder invited Kirchner, who said she is fond of art exhibitions, especially those of artist Gustav Klimt, to a future visit to Neue, his New York art gallery. The WJC leaders were joined by Latin American Jewish Congress President Jack Terpins; the group’s director, Claudio Epelman; and local Jewish leaders.