Global InformationAMIA bombing information
| AMIA bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict | |
 The aftermath of the attack | |
| Location | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Coordinates | 34°36′06.5″S 58°23′58″W / 34.601806°S 58.39944°W |
| Date | 18 July 1994 9:53 a.m. (UTC−03:00) |
| Target | Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina |
Attack type | Suicidal attack, car bombing |
| Deaths | 86 (including 1 bomber)[1][2] |
| Injured | 300+ |
| Perpetrators | Suspected Hezbollah and Iranian involvement[3][4][5][6][7]
|
| Motive | Retaliation for Argentina reneging on nuclear agreements with Iran |
The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; transl. "Argentine Israelite Mutual Association"), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA building and subsequently detonated, killing 85 people and injuring over 300.[11] To date, the bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history.[12] In 1994, Argentina was home to a Jewish community of 200,000, making it the largest in Latin America and the sixth-largest in the world outside of Israel.[13]
Over the years, the AMIA bombing has been marked by accusations of cover-ups. All suspects in the "local connection" (among them, many members of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police) were found to be not guilty in September 2004. In August 2005, federal judge Juan José Galeano, who was in charge of the case, was impeached and removed from his post on a charge of "serious irregularities" due to his mishandling of the investigation.[14] In 2005, Catholic Church cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis in 2013, was the first public personality to sign a petition for justice in the AMIA bombing case. He was one of the signatories on a document called "85 victims, 85 signatures" as part of the bombing's 11th anniversary.[15]
On 25 October 2006, Argentine prosecutors Alberto Nisman and Marcelo Martínez Burgos formally accused the Iranian government of directing the bombing, and the Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah of carrying it out.[16][5][17] According to the prosecution's claims in 2006, Argentina had been targeted by Iran after Buenos Aires' decision to suspend a nuclear technology transfer contract to Tehran.[18] This has been disputed as the contract was never terminated, and Iran and Argentina were negotiating on the restoration of full cooperation on all bilateral agreements from early 1992 until 1994, when the bombing occurred.[19]
In 2024, an Argentinian court ruled that Iran directed the attack, and that it was carried by Hezbollah. The ruling also characterized Iran as a terrorist state.[20]
- ^ "Caso AMIA: los fiscales dicen haber identificado al autor del atentado" [AMIA case: prosecutors say they have identified the perpetrator of the attack]. Clarín. 10 November 2005. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Identificaron al terrorista suicida que voló la AMIA" [The suicide bomber who blew AMIA have been identified]. La Nación. 10 November 2005. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Feldstein, Federico Pablo, and Carolina Acosta-Alzuru. "Argentinean Jews as scapegoat: A textual analysis of the bombing of AMIA." Journal of Communication Inquiry 27.2 (2003): 152–170". Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Karmon, Ely. "Iran and its proxy Hezbollah: Strategic penetration in Latin America." Elcano Newsletter 55 (2009): 32" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Iran charged over Argentina bomb". BBC News. 25 October 2006. Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
- ^ Death of a Prosecutor Archived 17 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The New Yorker, Dexter Filkins, 20 July 2015
- ^ Interpol arrest warrant for Iranian AMIA bombing suspect still in place Archived 17 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, JTA, 3 August 2015
- ^ Levitt, Matthew (2013). Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God. Georgetown University Press. p. 102. ISBN 9781626162020.
- ^ "Palestinian Jihadist group splits from Hezbollah". The Jerusalem Post. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ Peter Chalk (2013). Encyclopedia of Terrorism. ABC-CLIO. p. 375. ISBN 978-0-313-30895-6.
- ^ "AMIA Bombing Commemorated", Dateline World Jewry, World Jewish Congress, September 2007
- ^ "Argentinian lawyer Alberto Nisman was murdered, police report finds". The Guardian. 6 November 2017. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ "Argentina marks 1994 bomb attacks". BBC News. 18 July 2006. Archived from the original on 20 July 2006. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "AMIA: destituyeron a Galeano". Clarín (in Spanish). 3 August 2005. Archived from the original on 27 June 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2006.
- ^ "New pope has history of good relations with Jewish community". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Iran, Hezbollah charged in 1994 Argentine bombing". Daily Jang. 25 October 2006. Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
- ^ Richard Horowitz. "What Nisman Said About Iran – World Policy Institute" (PDF). World Policy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Acusan a Irán por el ataque a la AMIA". La Nación. 26 October 2006. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ Porter, Gareth. "Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs". Asia Times Online. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Politi, Daniel (12 April 2024). "Argentine Court Says Iran Was Behind Israeli Embassy and Jewish Center Attacks". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.