An internal Mossad report about its investigation into major terrorist attacks against Jewish targets in Argentina in the 1990s reveals new details about the attacks and suggests that Hezbollah, not Iran, was behind them, the New York Times revealed on Friday.
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In 1992, a bombing at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people. A bombing at the AMIA Jewish community center in 1992 killed 85 and left hundreds of others wounded.
According to the NYT report, by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, the Mossad reached the conclusion that Hezbollah was solely responsible for the attacks based on interviews with and investigations into alleged suspects. The Mossad report said that despite a widely-held belief that Iran was the driving force behind the attacks, there was no indication of any Iranian involvement.
The report said that the explosives used in the attack had been smuggled into Argentina in shampoo bottles and boxes of chocolate carried on commercial flights from Europe.
The Mossad report contradicts what has been Israel's official position on the attacks, as well as the prevailing claim in Argentina that Hezbollah perpetrated the attacks at Iran's behest.
The new conclusions could have ramifications in Buenos Aires, especially for the families of the victims, who for years have believed that their loved ones were killed on Tehran's orders as well as a special unit formed to investigate the bombings, which was headed by former prosecutor Alberto Nisman. Nisman was assassinated in January 2015 four days after accusing then-President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner of manipulating the investigation to Iran's benefit.
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The Mossad conclusions met with astonishment and skepticism in Argentina, and as of Saturday, Israel had not yet issued an official response.
Associates of interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that in their opinion, the report – which the NYT did not publish in full – did indicate that there had been Iranian involvement in the attacks.
An official in the Argentine Jewish community told Israel Hayom that he thought it was "impossible" that Iran had not been involved in the attacks.
"It appears more like propaganda from the New York Times to help Iran come out clean and pave the way to a nuclear deal," the official said.
Louis Sizevsky, who lost his daughter, Paula, in one of the bombings, also talked to Israel Hayom.
"The article clearly says that Iran approved, funded, and provided supplies and training to Hezbollah, who carried out the attack, and that's what the indictment says," he observed.
"Why don't they note the movement by Iranian diplomats, who were entering and leaving Argentina in the days prior to the attack, which has been legally proven?" Sizevsky asked. "It looks like Iran helped Hezbollah carry out the attack."
Sizevsky also expressed doubt that the explosives used had been smuggled in shampoo bottles and chocolates boxes, as reported. He said that the main explosive used in the attacks had been ammonal, which "was widely available in any hardware store in the country. Why should the Iranians make things complicated with smuggling?"
Nisman's investigation alleged that Mohsen Rabbani, who served as a cultural attaché for the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires at the time of the attacks, had helped plan the bombings. The investigation also proved that Rabbani was responsible for procuring the car that was used as a bomb.
