Whereas, on July 18, 1994, 85 people were killed and 300
were wounded when the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) was attacked
in Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Whereas extensive evidence links the planning of the
attack to the Government of Iran, and the execution of the attack to Hezbollah,
which is based in Lebanon, supported by Syria, sponsored by Iran, and
designated by the Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization;
Whereas, on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of
Argentina, an office created by the Government of Argentina, concluded that the
AMIA attack was decided and organized by the highest leaders of the
former government of . . . Iran, whom, at the same time, entrusted its
execution to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah
;
Whereas, on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of
Argentina concluded that the AMIA attack had been approved in advance by Iran's
Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i, Iran's then-leader Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
Iran's then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and Iran's then-Minister of
Security and Intelligence Ali Fallahijan;
Whereas, on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of
Argentina stated that the Government of Iran uses terrorism as a
mechanism of its foreign policy
in support of its final aim
[which] is to export its radicalized vision of Islam and to eliminate the
enemies of the regime
;
Whereas, on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of
Argentina identified Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese citizen and member of
Hezbollah, as the suicide bomber who primarily carried out the attack on the
AMIA;
Whereas, on November 9, 2006, Argentine Judge Rodolfo
Canicoba Corral, pursuant to the request of the State Prosecutor of Argentina,
issued an arrest warrant for Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former leader of
Iran and the current chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts and of Iran's
Expediency Council, for his involvement in the AMIA attack;
Whereas, on November 9, 2006, Argentine Judge Rodolfo
Canicoba Corral, pursuant to the request of the State Prosecutor of Argentina,
also issued arrest warrants for Ali Fallahijan, a former Iranian Minister of
Security and Intelligence, Ali Akbar Velayati, a former Iranian Foreign
Minister, Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC), Ahmad Vahidi, a former commander of the elite Al-Quds
Force of the IRGC, Hadi Soleimanpour, a former Iranian ambassador to Argentina,
Mohsen Rabbani, a former cultural attaché at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos
Aires, Ahmad Reza Asghari, a former official at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos
Aires, and Imad Moughnieh, a leading operations chief of Hezbollah;
Whereas, on March 5, 2007, the Executive Committee of
INTERPOL unanimously supported the issuance of Red Notices for Hezbollah
operative Imad Moughnieh and for Iranian officials Ali Fallahijan, Mohsen
Rezaei, Ahmad Vahidi, Mohsen Rabbani, and Ahmad Reza Asgari, thereby allowing
arrest warrants for those individuals to be circulated worldwide with an eye to
their arrest and extradition;
Whereas, on November 7, 2007, the General Assembly of
INTERPOL upheld the Executive Committee's decision to support the issuance of
six Red Notices in connection to the AMIA case;
Whereas, on February 12, 2008, Hezbollah operative Imad
Moughnieh reportedly was killed in Syria;
Whereas in June of 2008, the Government of Saudi Arabia
hosted an international Muslim conference that was reportedly attended by
Iranian officials Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, against whom an Argentine
arrest warrant has been issued, and Mohsen Rezaei, against whom both an
Argentine arrest warrant and INTERPOL Red Notice have been issued;
Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia reportedly made no
attempt to detain or arrest Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani or Mohsen Rezaei
during their time in Saudi Arabia, and the two departed Saudi Arabia without
incident;
Whereas, on May 22, 2008, Argentine prosecutor Alberto
Nisman filed a request with Argentine Judge Ariel Lijo for the arrest of Carlos
Saul Menem, who was president of Argentina at the time of the AMIA bombing, and
four other former Argentine high officials in connection with the AMIA
case;
Whereas Mr. Nisman claimed in his request for an arrest
warrant that Menem and the other four officials had attempted to cover up the
involvement of a Syrian-Argentine businessman, Alberto Jacinto Kanoore Edul, in
the AMIA bombing;
Whereas in December 2008, at the AMIA Special Prosecutor's
request, the presiding Argentine judge in a civil suit against the Iranian
suspects and Hezbollah requested that select European governments freeze up to
$1 million in bank accounts allegedly belonging to former Iranian leader Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and another Iranian accused of involvement in the
attacks;
Whereas between October of 2008 and March of 2009, nearly
a dozen Iranian properties were reportedly seized in the Buenos Aires area in
connection with a civil suit presented by an unnamed survivor of the AMIA
attack;
Whereas, on January 27, 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates said, “I’m concerned about the level of . . . subversive activity that
the Iranians are carrying on in a number of places in Latin America . . .
They’re opening a lot of offices and a lot of fronts, behind which they
interfere in what is going on in some of these countries.”;
Whereas in May 2009, Argentina issued an international
arrest warrant for Samuel Salman El Reda, a Colombian citizen of Lebanese
descent who Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman believes was the top local
connection in the AMIA attack and had connections to Hezbollah and the
Tri-Border area, a zone between Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil suspected of
being a haven for Islamic radical groups;
Whereas in October 2009, Federal Judge Ariel Lijo charged
former president Carlos Menem of instigating
several crimes
related to the AMIA attack, including concealing evidence and abuse of
authority;
Whereas in September 2009, Ahmad Vahidi was selected as
Defense Minister of Iran;
Whereas, in March 2010, the Federal Court in Argentina
confirmed the indictments of ex-president Carlos Menem, former Judge Juan Jose
Galeano, and former Federal Police inspector Jorge Fino
Palacios; and
Whereas the issuance of an Argentine arrest warrant for an
attaché of the Iranian Embassy in Argentina in connection with the AMIA case,
indicates that Iran has used its embassies abroad as tools and extensions of
radical Islamist goals and attacks: Now, therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)reiterates its strongest condemnation of
the 1994 attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish
Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, honors the victims of this attack,
and expresses its sympathy to the relatives of the victims;
(2)applauds the
Government of Argentina for its ongoing efforts in the AMIA bombing
investigation;
(3)urges the
Government of Argentina to continue to dedicate and provide the resources
necessary for its judicial system and intelligence agencies to investigate all
areas of the AMIA case and to prosecute those responsible;
(4)urges all
responsible nations to cooperate fully with the AMIA investigation, including
by making information, witnesses, and suspects available for review and
questioning by the appropriate Argentine authorities, and by detaining and
extraditing to Argentina, if given the opportunity, any persons against whom
Argentine arrest warrants or INTERPOL Red Notices are pending in connection
with the AMIA case, including Iranian officials and former officials, Hezbollah
operatives, and Islamist militants;
(5)encourages the
President to direct United States law enforcement agencies to provide support
and cooperation to the Government of Argentina, if requested, for the purposes
of deepening and expanding the investigation into the AMIA bombing; and
(6)urges governments
in the Western Hemisphere, who have not done so already, to draft, adopt, and
implement legislation designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,
banning fundraising and recruitment activities, and applying the harshest
penalties on those providing support for activities involving Hezbollah and
other such extremist groups.