Argentina's Jewish community commemorated Thursday the 30th anniversary of a targeted bombing which killed 85 people, with President Javier Milei promising to right decades of inaction and inconsistencies in the investigations into the attack.

In 1994, a bomb-filled van hit the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, becoming the deadliest such incident in the nation's history.

Video: Argentina to promote law to try Iranian leaders blamed for 1994 bombing at Jewish center/Credit: Reuters

"Today we chose to speak out, not stay silent," Milei said in an address on Wednesday evening. "We're raising our voice, not folding our arms. We choose life, because anything else is making a game out of death."

In April, Argentina's top criminal court blamed Iran for the attack, saying it was carried out by Hezbollah militants responding to "a political and strategic design" by Iran.

Tehran has denied involvement and refused to turn over suspects, and previous investigations and Interpol arrest warrants have led nowhere.

Milei – a staunch proponent of both the Jewish community and of Israel – said on Wednesday he would propose a bill which would allow for the trial of the suspects in the attack in absentia.

He also said that his government would beef up the national intelligence system to prevent similar attacks from occurring again, while dedicating further resources into investigating the AMIA incident.

Argentine prosecutors have charged top Iranian officials and members of Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah with ordering the bombing, as well as an attack in 1992 against the Israeli embassy in Argentina, which killed 22 people.

"Although they may never be able to serve a sentence, they will not be able to escape the eternal condemnation of a court proving their guilt in front of the whole world," Milei said.

The president called the April decision an "enormous step" in seeking justice in the AMIA case, he said that there was much more to go due to the "cover up by the terrorist state of Iran."

Last week, Milei declared Iran-backed militant Islamist group Hamas a terrorist organization for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The president on Wednesday compared the attack on Israel with the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires and demanded that Hamas release all of the hostages it had claimed, including eight Argentines.

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Much as they did on Jan. 18, 2015, when the prosecutor's lifeless body was found in mysterious circumstances that launched a debate over whether he was murdered or took his own life, Argentines spent Jan. 1, 2020 glued to their screens, this time watching the Netflix series: Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy.

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Nisman had accused then-President Cristina Fernández, her Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, a lawmaker and four others of conspiring to lift Interpol's red alerts against a handful of prominent Iranians accused of involvement the 1994 bombing of Argentina's AMIA Jewish center, an attack that left 85 people dead. According to the prosecutor, Fernández's government may have negotiated impunity for the suspects with Tehran in exchange for resuming trade relations.

The day before he was to appear before Congress to provide details about his shocking accusations, his lifeless body was found in the bathroom of his apartment with a gunshot to his head and a 22-caliber weapon at his side.

Fernández, who is now Argentina's vice president, has denied covering up the perpetrators and said she played no role in Nisman's death. But the case remains unsolved and debate rages around whether he was executed or took his own life. A police investigation concluded he was murdered while Fernández's government suggested he took his own life.

Over six, hour-long chapters with dozens of interviews and testimonies, including current President Alberto Fernández – who is not related to Cristina Fernández – researchers, spies, FBI, and CIA agents and unpublished images, British director Justin Webster seeks to shed light on the case through the documentary.

The series quickly became the most commented topic on social media in Argentina and the president himself spoke to the media to address his statements in the documentary.

"To this day, I doubt he committed suicide," Alberto Fernández had said in 2017 in an interview with Webster that appeared in the documentary.

But on Thursday, Argentina's recently elected president seemed to change this position, telling local Radio Diez that "from 2017, when the interview was recorded, until now no serious evidence has appeared saying Nisman was killed."

"I'd like to know what happened to Nisman and if he killed himself, why?" he said.

In an interview with The Associated Press Thursday in Barcelona, ​​where he is based, Webster said he saw nothing strange in Alberto Fernández changing his opinion over the years. "It is completely natural for people to change their minds" as they get to know more about a case.

Alberto Fernández was chief of staff during part of Cristina Fernández's first term in office.

"When I interviewed him, he had no idea that he was going to be president. He was, as in the documentary, quite critical of Cristina [Fernández de] Kirchner. When I say critical I mean, I don't mean he was against her and he was able to say what was good about her and what was bad about her for instance," Webster said.

The spy referred to in the documentary's title is Antonio Stiuso, the former Argentine counterintelligence chief signaled by Cristina Fernández as the man behind Nisman's accusations as well as being behind his death as a revenge for having displaced him from office.

Describing both him and Cristina Fernández as "Shakespearean characters," Webster added that Stiuso is an "absolutely fascinating" man who was responsible for investigating the AMIA attack. He said that based on his close ties with the US and Israeli intelligence service he provided evidence that alleged Iran was the intellectual author of the attack and the Islamic group Hezbollah the executor. Iran has denied involvement.

Argentina's judicial system initially described Nisman's death as doubtful. But in 2017, when the probe moved to the federal system, investigators concluded it was a homicide linked to the investigation against Fernández's government (2007-2015).

Another judge continued the investigation of Nisman and formally accused Cristina Fernández, Timerman – who died in 2018 – and other former officials of participating in an alleged plot to cover up Iranian involvement in the attack. The case is still pending.

As Webster warns, Nisman's death occurred in a country strongly divided between Cristina's supporters and foes.

"And I think to the attentive viewer who watches all six episodes, then it does bring quite a lot of clarity to the big questions around the Nisman case, around AMIA, and around the memorandum case," he said.

"That's what makes it for me a particularly attractive story, that it's a psychological story about a single man and psychological stories, if you like, about two other sorts of Shakespearean characters, if you like ... But it's also got this international resonance that is, I think, very it's quite a revelation about how things work," Webster said.

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"After 25 years, like all the decisions, they did it because of the anniversary. … I know they have good intentions, but 25 years is a lot of time. A lot of people work hard to hide evidence, to erase the evidence, and now I hope they can do something. But I am skeptical," survivor of the 1994 bombing Javier Miropolsky tells i24NEWS.

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Miropolsky was buried under debris of the building where he used to work helping the elderly and disabled for five hours before he was rescued.

"I personally feel betrayed, by all the governments, because it was the country where I was born and someone tried to kill me there," he said explaining that he first considered himself Argentine first and then a Jew.

The attack changed his perspective, especially when the Israel ambassador came to visit him in the hospital, not a representative of the Argentine government.

"That meant a lot to me. So, I decided to come here [to Israel] – it was a wise decision," he said.

"It's very difficult to be a Jew there [in Argentina] right now."

But Adriana Camisar, Special Advisor on Latin American Affairs for B'nai B'rith International underscored the importance of the Argentine government's decision on Thursday to brand Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

"This is an extremely important decision by the Argentine government because for the first time in 25 years Hezbollah is finally considered a terrorist organization," she stressed.

"And it will be more difficult for agents of Hezbollah to get funds in the tri-border area between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay – which has been for a long time a lawless area, and it is considered the main source of Hezbollah financing outside of the Middle East."

Camisar said the 250,000-strong Jewish community in Argentina was "vibrant – they love their country, but of course, they just want justice."

Argentine Justice Minister Germán Garavano also told i24NEWS that freezing Hezbollah's assets and adding the group's military wing to Argentina's terror list would help "create deterrence."

He related two other decrees put forth by the Argentinian government to declare a national day of mourning and a series of other actions to preserve the memory of the victims of the attack, as well as extend the period for victims to claim reparations.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS. 

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Netanyahu made the comments while addressing French lawmakers during a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem.

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"I think it's very important that France and the rest of Europe do exactly what Argentina did recently and that it, too, declare Hezbollah as a terrorist group," Netanyahu said.

"It's the major terrorist organization in the Middle East and in the world and it is operating terrorists on European soil, so the most important thing is to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization. That should be done immediately," he added.

The Argentine government last week decided to officially designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Video: GPO

The designation will be enacted on Friday and will coincide with a visit to Argentina by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to commemorate the AMIA Jewish community center bombing, which took place on July 18, 1994.

That attack, which has long been attributed to Iran-backed Hezbollah, claimed the lives of 85 people.

Pompeo is also expected to meet with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri on Friday.

Argentina has also decided to create an anti-terrorism database ahead of the AMIA bombing anniversary.

The new public registry will include information on terrorism linked to Argentina while contributing to global anti-terror lists.

People and groups named could face financial sanctions.

Wednesday's decree also declares July 18 a day of national mourning in remembrance of the victims of the AMIA bombing.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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Raffo, 88, had been battling an illness and was found at home on Monday. He left a note saying "I can't handle the pain" and then shot himself, local reports said. No foul play is suspected.

Nisman was found dead in 2015 just hours before he was due to appear in Congress to present evidence that then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner plotted to whitewash Iran's involvement in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires 25 years ago.

Raffo, as a highly respected pathologist in Argentina, had significant sway on public opinion when he stated that Nisman's death was no accident or suicide. This cast doubt on the official version of events undermined  Kirchner and contributed heavily to a court ruling that Nisman was indeed murdered.

Kirchner, now a senator, was indicted for treason over Nisman's allegations. Prosecutors allege that she worked behind the scenes to clear Iran of the blame for the AMIA attack, which killed 85 people, in an effort to normalize relations and clinch a 2013 grain-for-oil deal with Tehran.

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