[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 117 (Thursday, July 12, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6117-H6118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF 1994 TERRORIST ATTACK AGAINST JEWISH COMMUNITY 
                              IN ARGENTINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, next Wednesday, July 18, marks 24 
years since the horrific terrorist attack on the AMIA Jewish community 
center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  This attack, carried out by the Iranian-backed terror group 
Hezbollah, left 85 innocent people dead and many more wounded. It shook 
the entire Jewish community in Argentina, and all across South America, 
who were targeted by Hezbollah just 2 years earlier with a deadly 
attack at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which left 29 dead and 
250 wounded.
  The AMIA bombing remains the deadliest terror attack in Argentina's 
history, yet its perpetrators and those responsible for the Embassy 
bombing have yet to be brought to justice. But that has not been for 
lack of trying. In fact, Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman had 
dedicated his life to identifying those responsible and to bringing 
them to justice.
  Indeed, my friend Alberto ultimately gave his life in this pursuit, 
having been assassinated just hours before he was to present his 
complaint to a court implicating then-President Cristina Fernandez de 
Kirchner and other high-ranking Argentine officials for covering up 
Iran's role in the bombings.

  In 2015, President Macri of Argentina made the brave decision to 
assign a special prosecutor to investigate and uncover the truth 
surrounding

[[Page H6118]]

Nisman's death, which, under the Kirchner government, was ruled a 
suicide. But we knew the truth all along, and ultimately the official 
report released in 2017 confirmed that Nisman was, in fact, murdered, 
no doubt by those close to Iran and Hezbollah, or those implicated in 
Alberto's investigation.
  Mr. Speaker, this is just the first step in vindicating the work for 
which he was murdered. But we still have a very long way to go to bring 
Alberto Nisman justice and see the culmination of his work, which is to 
hold Hezbollah accountable for these brutal terror attacks against the 
Jewish community in Argentina.
  Last year, I, along with Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and 
Congressmen Ted Deutch, Jeff Duncan, and Albio Sires, introduced H. 
Res. 201, which expressed support for the government of Argentina for 
its investigation of the AMIA bombing in 1994 and the bombing of the 
Israeli Embassy in 1992. The resolution also calls on our government to 
assist Argentina in ensuring all those responsible for these heinous 
acts are held accountable.
  I would urge the Argentine authorities to do everything within their 
power to bring all responsible parties to justice and to bring at least 
some form of closure to the families of over 100 killed by Hezbollah in 
Argentina. Argentina owes them that much. And we all owe them a chance 
to see Iran and Hezbollah held accountable for their horrific acts of 
terror.
  Though the AMIA bombing was 24 years ago, and the embassy bombing 26 
years ago, the Jewish communities still feel the pain, and because 
Hezbollah is allowed to go unchecked in many places around the globe, 
they know that another attack may be possible anywhere in the world.
  To commemorate the AMIA bombing, and in remembrance of the lives 
brutally taken, the American Jewish community's Belfer Institute for 
Latino and Latin American Affairs will be co-hosting a memorial and 
candle lighting ceremony with the Skylake Synagogue in North Miami 
Beach. The south Florida Jewish community holds this event annually to 
not only commemorate the victims of this attack, but to bring attention 
to the threat that is Iran and Hezbollah, as well as the hostility and 
the discrimination that Jews around the world are still facing and the 
rising tide of anti-Semitism.
  Mr. Speaker, as the 24th anniversary of the AMIA bombing nears, let 
us remember the lives lost and continue working so that these acts do 
not happen again, and let us work to ensure that Iran and Hezbollah may 
never be able to carry out such terrible acts again.
  Thank you to the south Florida community members for putting together 
this event and for their work to help bring justice to the families of 
the lives lost.

                          ____________________