[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 17, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF ISRAELI EMBASSY BOMBING IN ARGENTINA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 17, 1999

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, few Americans would associate Latin America 
with Middle East terrorism; however, the reality is that we do have 
Middle East terrorist activity in our very own backyard. Not long ago, 
I led a congressional delegation to South America, and many Members 
learned for the first time of Hizbollah's active presence developing 
funding support and other bases of operations for its international 
terrorist goals.
  Sadly, today is the seventh anniversary of the 1992 terrorist bombing 
of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. That cowardly, 
deadly terrorist attack took 29 lives, and injured more than 200. It 
has been seven years since this savage and ruthless act of terror, 
directed against Jewish targets in Argentina, caused the murder of 
these innocent victims. It destroyed the diplomatic mission of the 
state of Israel, plunged the largest Jewish community in South America 
into perpetual fear, and threatened the civilized world. In fact, this 
horror was compounded two years later when the AMIA Jewish community 
center in Buenos Aries was destroyed by a terrorist car bomb.
  Both of these brutal crimes have remained unsolved. After years of 
investigation, little substantive progress has been made in 
apprehending those responsible. Accordingly, I urge the Argentinean 
government to vigorously continue to pursue those investigations.
  Relatives of the 29 victims of the Israeli Embassy bombing, including 
Ralph and Helen Goldman, American citizens in New York, who lost their 
son David Ben Rafael in the attack, will never reclaim their loved 
ones, or recover from this tragic loss. Our hearts are with the 
Goldmans and with the other families as we memorialize their children, 
mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, who were killed in these 
bombings. The entire civilized world has been brutalized. With each act 
of terror, freedom and liberty suffers defeat. With every act of 
terrorism left unsolved, democracy and justice are diminished.
  The United States remains in the forefront in the war against 
terrorism. We implore the international community to join in this 
battle. We urge Argentina to uphold global standard against 
international terrorism and help solve these crimes which claimed the 
lives of so many in the Jewish community.
  We pay tribute to the victims of the Israeli Embassy and AMIA 
bombings. They will not be forgotten. Together we can best honor their 
memory by solving the crimes which claimed their lives, bringing their 
murders to justice, and creating an environment which assures that 
terror will not claim any additional victims. The U.S. has provided 
assistance and support to the government of Argentina in that effort.
  A Jewish tradition states, ``Justice, justice shalt thou pursue.'' 
This is an American ideal as well as a universal humanitarian 
imperative.

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