[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 34 (Monday, March 17, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E486-E487]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOMBING OF THE ISRAELI EMBASSY IN BUENOS 
  AIRES--HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 50 URGES ACTION FROM ARGENTINEAN 
                              AUTHORITIES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 17, 1997

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, 5 years ago, on March 17, 1992, the Israeli 
Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was destroyed by a massive suicide 
bomb, and several nearby buildings were also destroyed. In that 
bombing, 29 people were killed and an additional 252 innocent people 
were injured, many seriously.
  Victims of the attack included employees of the Israeli Embassy and 
their families, children from a nearby Roman Catholic primary school, 
men and women from a nearby Roman Catholic church shelter, a Roman 
Catholic priest, and others. Two years later the Jewish Community in 
Buenos Aires was also destroyed in a terrorist bombing in which 86 
people died and over 200 were injured.
  Despite worldwide attention to these catastrophes, we are now marking 
the fifth anniversary of this hideous terrorist bombing and yet we 
still have had no prosecution and even no sign of progress in 
identifying those who carried out this vicious attack. It is time for 
the Congress to express our serious concern about this outrageous and 
unacceptable situation.
  Mr. Speaker, on this tragic anniversary, with 12 of our distinguished 
colleagues, I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 50 which notes the 
fifth anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos 
Aires, Argentina, on March 17, 1992, and calls upon the

[[Page E487]]

Argentinean Government to take more aggressive steps to solve the 
crime. Our resolution ``notes with regret'' that this is the fifth 
anniversary of the Israeli Embassy bombing and ``police and judicial 
authorities in Argentina have not identified and initiated prosecution 
of the perpetrators of these two barbarous acts of terrorism.'' The 
resolution also urges the Supreme Court of Argentina to designate a 
single judge to conduct the investigation of the Embassy bombing in 
order to improve the efficiency of the inquiry. Currently, the full 
membership of the Supreme Court is in charge of the investigation, and 
this has hampered the effectiveness of the investigation.
  I invite my colleagues to join as cosponsors of this legislation and 
urged redoubled effort to solve these horrendous crimes. The text of 
House Concurrent Resolution 50 follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 50

       Whereas on March 17, 1992, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos 
     Aires, Argentina, a school, and several nearby buildings were 
     destroyed by a powerful suicide car bomb blast in which 29 
     innocent children, women, and men lost their lives and an 
     additional 252 innocent people were injured;
       Whereas the victims of this terrorist attack included 
     employees of the Israeli embassy and their families, children 
     from a nearby Roman Catholic primary school, women and men 
     from a nearby Roman Catholic church shelter, a Roman Catholic 
     priest, and people across the spectrum of Argentine society;
       Whereas Argentina's Jewish community, which numbers over 
     300,000 and is the largest Jewish community in Latin America, 
     has suffered periods of severe Anti-Semitism during periods 
     of military rule and feels particularly vulnerable to assault 
     from certain radical Islamic groups and from indigenous far 
     right extremists in Argentina;
       Whereas Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the 
     bombing of the Israeli Embassy and praised the name of the 
     alleged suicide bomber, Abu Yasser, by calling him a ``martyr 
     struggler,'' and Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organization 
     that is supported by Iran and United States State Department 
     officials have stated that Iranian diplomats collected 
     information to plan the bombing;
       Whereas the failure of Argentine and international efforts 
     to bring the perpetrators of the embassy bombing to justice 
     made Argentina a prime target for a second devastating 
     terrorist attack on July 18, 1994, just two years after the 
     bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, when the 
     Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish Community 
     Center was destroyed in a similar car bombing in which 86 
     people died and over 200 people were injured; and
       Whereas the effectiveness of the investigation of the 
     Israeli embassy bombing, which is being conducted by the 
     Supreme Court of Argentina, has been hampered by the 
     inefficiency of having the entire membership of the court in 
     charge of the investigation:
       Now, therefore, be it--
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring) that the Congress
       (1) Notes with regret that March 17, 1997, marked the fifth 
     anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos 
     Aires, that it is now more than two and a half years since 
     the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center, and that 
     policy and judicial authorities in Argentina have not yet 
     identified and initiated prosecution of the perpetrators of 
     these two barbarous acts of terrorism;
       (2) Urges the Supreme Court of Argentina to designate a 
     single investigative judge to conduct the investigation of 
     the terrorist bombing of the Israeli Embassy in order to 
     improve the efficiency of the inquiry;
       (3) Urges Argentinean judicial authorities to move forward 
     aggressively in the investigation of the terrorism bombing of 
     the AMIA Jewish Community Center because of the probability 
     that there is a connection between that bombing and the 
     bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires;
       (4) Urges Argentinean authorities to acknowledge publicly 
     the reports submitted by Argentinean, United States, and 
     Israeli experts, which determined that the explosion at the 
     Israeli Embassy took place outside the walls of the embassy;
       (5) Urges the President and appropriate executive agencies 
     to provide all appropriate assistance which has been or which 
     may be requested by Argentinean government authorities in 
     order to help that government in investigating these acts of 
     terrorism; and
       (6) Directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to 
     forward a copy of this resolution to the government of 
     Argentina.

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