It’s been 30 years since the murders at AMIA
Last week, I led a Conference of Presidents leadership mission that represented the American Jewish community at the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the bombing of AMIA, the Jewish center in Buenos Aires. On that dreadful day in July 1994, 85 people were murdered and 300 more injured, a wound that still feels fresh for global Jewry.
I flew to Argentina from Israel, my fourth visit there since Oct. 7, during which I was in the Old City of Jerusalem. With each visit, I prayed we would be celebrating the release of the hostages, but more than 100 of our brothers and sisters are still being held in the dungeons of Hamas — including American and Argentinian citizens.
As my friends Orna and Ronen Neutra so movingly asked at the Republican National Convention last week: “Where is the outrage?”
Israel has evacuated dozens of communities near the northern border, displacing over 60,000 citizens. As the war against Hamas grinds on and another against Hezbollah looms, Iran — the puppet master of these terror groups and others — fired ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones directly at the Jewish state for the first time in history.
Even the most determined optimist’s resolve has been tested by the events of the last nine months.
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The two bloody days on our minds — Oct. 7 and the AMIA bombing — do not exist in a vacuum. Our history as a Jewish people has been marred by tragedy after tragedy, century after century.
From the exiles we endured from the Land of Israel to the pogroms of the shtetl, the Shoah, the AMIA bombing, the Sbarro bombing of the second intifada, Oct. 7 and many other dreadful days, we are bound to each other and our ancestors by the tragedies we face and the resolve we display as we endure.
While in Buenos Aires, our leadership mission participated in the AMIA bombing memorial service. There, we heard from a dozen relatives of victims who shared the stories of their loved ones and how the terror attack ripped indelible holes in their lives that still radiate 30 years later with visibly raw pain.
One of the relatives we spoke with was Sofia Gutterman. On the day of the attack, her daughter Andrea, an inquisitive nursery school teacher who had many friends, was at the AMIA job bank at 9:53 am looking for a new job when Iran’s proxies murdered her.
Like many other relatives of victims and survivors, Sofia has dedicated her life since the bombing to educating others, particularly youth, about the AMIA attack and the Jewish community.
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Unfortunately, justice continues to evade the victims and their families. We cannot forget the fact that 17 years after prosecutor Alberto Nisman concluded that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah were responsible for the attack, the murderers have not been held accountable. Though Interpol issued “red notices” for the arrest of the terrorists responsible, no arrests have ever been made. Meanwhile, the investigation of Nisman’s own murder nearly a decade ago remains mired in government complacency and conspiracy.
Nor do the terror attacks in Argentina 30 years ago and in Israel nine months ago exist in a vacuum. The ayatollah’s regime and its tentacles of terror threaten Israel and the Jewish people everywhere.
Earlier this year, under the direction of US Ambassador Marc Stanley, the United States and Argentina collaborated to ground and seize a plane sold from an Iranian airline that was used to ferry weapons and fighters for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah to Venezuela.
Recently, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines announced that Iran is engaged in fomenting and funding anti-Israel unrest on American college campuses.
Argentina is continuously on alert due to Iran’s activities in Bolivia and Venezuela, raising the possibility of terrorist infiltrations.
Global Jewry stands united in our resolve to protect ourselves and each other from the Iranian terror regime. We thank Argentina’s President Javier Milei for taking the important step of designating Hamas a terror organization, making Argentina the first Latin American country to do so.
Beyond terror threats, Jewish communities around the world also share in the challenge of rising domestic antisemitism in the aftermath of Oct. 7. The ADL tracked a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents across the United States after that terrible day.
By Oct. 8, well before Israel launched its defensive operation in Gaza, we realized that we could not depend upon many of our traditional allies. They quickly denied, minimized and rationalized the murders, rapes and hostage-taking undertaken by the Hamas terrorist army.
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A narrative took hold in some circles that claimed Israel is an “oppressor state” that must be opposed “by any means necessary,” a thinly veiled euphemism for the justification of terror. Hostage posters are ripped down time and time again. Jewish businesses are boycotted and vandalized. Our places of worship are under increased threat.
This hatred is being felt personally: A survey released in November by the American Jewish Committee found that 46% of American Jews avoided publicly displaying their Jewish identity in the previous 12 months out of fear of antisemitism.
Nevertheless, in the darkness there is light. I am gratified by the surge of communal participation and activism within the American Jewish community over the last nine months. Synagogue attendance has swelled, Judaica stores have run out of Stars of David jewelry, donations to Jewish institutions have skyrocketed and Jewish summer camps are now filled with the beaming faces of our next generation.
Amidst the tragedy of Oct. 7, the heartbeats of Jews around the world were synchronized. This does not only extend to American Jewry’s relationship with Israel but global Jewry’s relationship with each other.
That is why, 30 years after the AMIA bombing, the largest delegation of Jewish community members gathered in Buenos Aires for the memorial, many of us joined by antisemitism envoys and official delegations from our governments.
I know that through sharing our common experiences and best practices, we will create a better future for our countries and the Jewish people.
We in the American Jewish community continue to stand by our brethren in the Diaspora and Israel. As the challenges of antisemitism have metastasized in the United States over these last months, we in America thank you for standing with us.
Though there remains much work to be done, global Jewry is united. Our heartbeats are synchronized and, together, we will thrive and prevail, just as our people have for 3,500 years.
William Daroff is CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
