Press Releases

Washington DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), Co-Chair of the Latino Jewish Caucus, introduced a resolution commemorating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires and demanding justice and accountability for those responsible for the attack.

Wasserman Schultz was joined by fellow Latino Jewish Caucus Co-Chairs, Reps. Mario Diaz- Balart (FL-25) and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), and Ted Deutch (FL-22), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Global Counterterrorism, to lead on the resolution.

“It has been 28 years since the horrific AMIA Jewish Center bombing, yet there is still no justice for the 85 victims and hundreds who were injured,” said Wasserman Schultz. “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. This attack on a stronghold of our community must not go unanswered. With this introduction, Chairman Deutch, and Congressmen Espaillat, Diaz-Balart and I honor the victims of the attack and call for justice for their loved ones.”

Text of the resolution can be found here and below.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ submitted the following resolution:

Condemning the attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994 and expressing the concern of the United States regarding the continuing, 28-year-long delay in the resolution of this case and encouraging accountability for the attack.

Whereas, 28 years ago, on July 18, 1994, 85 innocent people were killed and 300 were injured when the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (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 the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran;

Whereas, 2 years earlier, Hezbollah operatives also blew up the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 civilians;

Whereas the 28 years since the bombing have been marked by a failure to bring those responsible, including Iranian officials 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 Martı ́nez 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 four 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 no Iranian suspects for the AMIA bombing have yet 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 miscarriage of justice;

Whereas Carlos Telleldı ́n was convicted and sentenced to prison for his role in assisting the perpetrators carry out their heinous attack;

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, two Iranian suspects from the 1994 bombing, were appointed by President Ebrahim Raisi and confirmed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly to the Iranian Cabinet;

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; 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 Resolved, 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 7 victims, who have waited for over a quarter of a century 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, 28-year-long delay in the proper resolution of this case; and

(4) calls for the perpetrators of this horrific act, including Iranian and Hezbollah operatives, to be held accountable for their crimes.

####