News Brief

Israel stepped up security measures at its main nuclear reactor in Dimona.

Military officials told Israeli television over the weekend that new anti-aircraft batteries have been stationed around the Dimona reactor due to heightened security alerts.

According to Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, the precautions come amid concern that Syria could retaliate for Israel’s airstrike on its territory in September with an attack on Dimona. Israeli warplanes are widely assumed to have bombed a nascent Syrian nuclear reactor.

Dimona is believed to be where Israel produces fissile material for nuclear weapons. The reactor is officially for research purposes.

An American Jewish Committee diplomatic mission met in Buenos Aires with local officials and Jewish community members. The AJC meetings took place Nov. 7-10 following the group’s mission to Chile. David Harris, the AJC’s executive director, and Dina Siegel Vann, its director for Latin American Affairs, met with the internal affairs and justice ministers, community leaders and relatives of victims of the 1994 AMIA Jewish community center terrorist attack. The group was scheduled to meet Saturday with President-elect Cristina Fernandez, as well as religious leaders and the prosecutor in the AMIA case, Alberto Nisman. Siegel Vann told JTA that the AJC mission came at a “very auspicious moment” — immediately following Interpol’s decision to put six suspects in the AMIA attack on its most wanted list. The organization asked local political leaders to discuss how to keep the issue alive, as the suspects’ capture is not compelling and extradition is unlikely. The development of a clearer anti-terrorist law, with the capacity to sanction recruitment and proselytism, among other requirements, was a concern the AJC discussed with Justice Minister Alberto Iribarne. Siegel Vann and Harris also talked to Iribarne about the need for Argentina to fulfill the commitments of the Inter-American Human Rights Committee in Washington, including the implementation of digitalized passports and a contingency plan for disasters. Concerns about Iranian influence in the region were discussed in a meeting with Internal Affairs Minister Anibal Fernandez.