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: 119-hres-597
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25]
Introduced: 2025-07-17
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2025-07-17
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:

tv_txt: IV 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 597 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 17, 2025 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, 31 years ago, on July 18, 1994, 85 innocent people were killed and more than 300 were injured when the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) was bombed in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Whereas at that time, 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, and sponsored by Iran, a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism since 1984; Whereas, two years earlier, Hezbollah operatives also blew up the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 civilians and injuring 242; Whereas the 31 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, ten 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 the Argentine prosecutors charged Iranian nationals as suspects in the AMIA bombing, including— (1) Ali Fallahijan, Iran’s former intelligence minister; (2) Mohsen Rabbani, Iran’s former cultural attaché in Buenos Aires; (3) Ahmad Reza Asghari, a former Iranian diplomat posted to Argentina; (4) Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s former defense minister; (5) Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran’s former foreign minister; (6) Mohsen Rezaee, former chief commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; (7) Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of Iran; and (8) Hadi Soleimanpour, former Iranian ambassador to Argentina; 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 regime and military operatives, 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, Mohsen Razaee from Iran, and Imad Fayez Moughnieh from Lebanon; Whereas INTERPOL currently has three red alerts in place in relation to the AMIA attack; Whereas, on January 13, 2015, prosecutor Alberto Nisman alleged in a complaint that then-Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and then-Minister of Foreign Relations Hector Timerman conspired to cover up Iranian involvement in the 1994 terrorist bombing, and reportedly agreed to negotiate immunity for Iranian suspects and help get their names removed from the INTERPOL list; Whereas prosecutor Alberto Nisman was scheduled to present his new findings to the Argentinian Congress on January 19, 2015; Whereas prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found shot in the head in his apartment in Buenos Aires on January 18, 2015; Whereas the investigation of the AMIA bombing has been marked by judicial misconduct and undue influence; Whereas, to date, no one has been brought to justice for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, or the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman; 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, on April 12th, 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 Argentina’s 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 Whereas, in March 2025, Argentina passed Law No. 27.784, which allows trial in absentia, opening the door for prosecuting foreign suspects not present in the country; Whereas, in April 2025, AMIA special prosecutor Sebastián Basso requested both national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei under the authority of Law No. 27.784; Whereas, on June 26, 2025, Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas ruled that a trial in absentia would be held for the 10 men accused of planning and ordering the terrorist attack on the AMIA; and Whereas, today, Argentina is home to more than 250,000 Jewish people, making it the largest home to Jews in Latin America and the 6th largest in the world: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) condemns the 1994 attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and remembers the victims of this heinous act; (2) honors the memory of the victims and expresses sympathy to their relatives, who have waited for more than 3 decades without justice for the loss of their loved ones; (3) underscores the concern of the United States regarding the continuing 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) commends the Government of Argentina for designating Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations and urges other United States allies and partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to do the same; (6) demands that INTERPOL member countries comply with arrest orders for individuals responsible for the deadly attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center; and (7) 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.