Condemning the attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994 and encouraging accountability for the attack.

Bill: 118-hres-1266
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25]
Introduced: 2024-05-31
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2024-05-31
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-05-31
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution condemns the 1994 attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and calls for the perpetrators, including Iranian and Hezbollah operatives, to be held accountable for their crimes.&nbsp;The resolution also demands that INTERPOL&nbsp;(the International Criminal Police Organization, an intergovernmental organization that facilitates international police cooperation) member countries comply with arrest orders for individuals responsible for the attack.&nbsp;</p>

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1266 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 31, 2024 Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself, Mr. Diaz-Balart , Mr. Espaillat , and Mr. Tony Gonzales of Texas ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Condemning the attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994 and encouraging accountability for the attack.

Whereas, 30 years ago, on July 18, 1994, 85 innocent people were killed and 300 were injured when the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (hereinafter referred to as AMIA ) was bombed in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Whereas the AMIA bombing was the deadliest attack on Jewish people outside Israel since the Holocaust; Whereas it is reported that considerable evidence links the attack to the terrorist group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, supported by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, and sponsored by Iran, a United States-designated state sponsor of terrorism since 1984; Whereas, 2 years earlier, Hezbollah operatives also blew up the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 civilians and injuring 242; Whereas the 30 years since the bombing have been marred by a failure to bring those responsible, including Iran-backed operatives and their Hezbollah proxies, to justice; Whereas, in September 2004, 10 years after the attack, Alberto Nisman was appointed as the Special Prosecutor in charge of the 1994 AMIA bombing investigation; Whereas, in October 2006, Argentine prosecutors Alberto Nisman and Marcelo Martinez Burgos formally accused the Iranian regime of directing the bombing, and the Hezbollah militia of carrying it out; Whereas Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a member of the terrorist group Hezbollah, was identified as the AMIA bomber; Whereas, in November 2006, an Argentine judge issued arrest warrants for 8 Iranian nationals, including high-ranking government and military officials, and one Lebanese national, who were named as suspects in the AMIA bombing; Whereas, in November 2007, INTERPOL voted to put the following suspects in the 1994 AMIA attack on its most wanted list: Ali Fallahijan, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari, Ahmad Vahidi, and Mohsen Razaee from Iran and Imad Fayez Moughnieh from Lebanon; Whereas INTERPOL currently has 5 red alerts in place in relation to the AMIA attack; Whereas the investigation of the AMIA bombing has been marked by judicial misconduct and undue influence; Whereas no Iranian suspects for the AMIA bombing have faced prosecution; Whereas former Federal judge Juan Jose Galeano and former State Intelligence Secretariat intelligence head Hugo Anzorreguy have both been convicted and sentenced to prison for subverting the investigation and concealing evidence; Whereas, in 2019, the Argentine Government declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization, expelled all members of the organization from the country, and froze their assets in Argentina; Whereas, in 2020, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez reaffirmed the commitment of the Argentine Republic to bring those responsible for the attack to justice; Whereas, in 2021, Ahmad Vahidi and Mohsen Rezai, 2 Iranian suspects from the 1994 bombing, were appointed by Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, and confirmed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, to the Iranian Cabinet; Whereas, on April 12, 2024, Argentina’s highest criminal court, the Argentine Court of Cassation, broke the extended silence of the justice system by affirming Iran’s responsibility for the deadly bombing and declaring it a crime against humanity ; Whereas, according to news reports of the ruling, the court identified top Iranian officials and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commanders in its determination that Iran carried out the bombings in response to Argentina scrapping three contracts that would have provided Tehran with nuclear technology in the mid-1980s ; Whereas Argentine President Javier Milei commended the high court’s ruling, noting that the determination was a significant step that put an end to decades of delays and cover-ups ; Whereas leaders in the Argentine Jewish community, including AMIA President Amos Linetzky, noted that the historic ruling would finally provide an opportunity for survivors and relatives of victims to seek legal action against Iran; Whereas the Foreign Ministry of Argentina responded to the court’s ruling by requesting that INTERPOL issue an immediate international arrest notice for Ahmad Vahidi, who is now the Iranian Interior Minister, as one of those responsible for the attack on AMIA ; and Whereas, today, Argentina is home to over 250,000 Jewish people, making it the largest home to Jews in Latin America and the sixth-largest in the world: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) condemns the 1994 attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and honors the victims of this heinous act; (2) expresses sympathy to the relatives of the victims, who have waited for 3 decades without justice for the loss of their loved ones, and may have to wait even longer for justice to be served; (3) underscores the concern of the United States regarding the continuing, 30-year-long delay in the proper resolution of this case; (4) calls for the perpetrators of this horrific act, including Iranian and Hezbollah operatives, to be held accountable for their crimes; (5) demands that INTERPOL member countries comply with arrest orders for individuals responsible for the deadly attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center; and (6) stands in solidarity with the Jewish community of Argentina and the broader Latin American and Caribbean Jewish diaspora at a time of surging antisemitism around the world.