BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — On each passing anniversary of the deadly 1994 attack against Argentina’s largest Jewish community center, Diana Malamud said she endures a brutal “Groundhog Day.”
In her version of the Kafkaesque nightmare that traps her in the same day over and over, presidents repeat the same pledges to seek justice for the car bombing at the center that killed 85 people, including Malamud’s architect husband, Andrés, wounded 300 others and profoundly unsettled Jewish communities across the continent.
No has ever been convicted for involvement in the bombing, considered among the deadliest antisemitic attacks anywhere since World War II.
On Thursday, on the 30th anniversary of the attack, libertarian President Javier Milei — a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” who rode to power on a wave of popular rage against the political establishment — became Argentina’s 11th leader to vow renewed efforts to bring the perpetuators to justice.
His combative anti-Iran rhetoric, pro-Israel foreign policy and radical state reforms have stirred cautious optimism about his commitment to breaking the time loop.
But many remain unconvinced after three decades of an investigation marred by corruption, obfuscation and intrigue.
“The years go by, but nothing happens,” said Malamud, 64, a member of Active Memory, a group of victims’ families that has pushed for accountability. “On these anniversaries, the government has these very important announcements that never serve any purpose, and the terrible part is that what we want most seems almost impossible to get.”
A memorial siren wailed at the community center, known by its Spanish acronym AMIA, on Thursday at 9:53 a.m., the exact minute the attack occurred 30 years ago, commencing the day of stirring speeches and solemn vigils.
“It’s unbelievable that 30 years have passed since that cold morning of 18 July 1994, 30 years without a single person answering for this attack,” said the head of AMIA, Amos Linetzky, from the memorial service, his voice rising with frustration as he recounted the decades of wholesale impunity. “Thirty years in which the Argentine state has looked the other way.”
Milei was in the audience, a day after taking the rostrum at a conference hosted by the nonprofit World Jewish Congress where he vigorously denounced Iran as “the dark hand” behind deadly militant attacks from Argentina to Israel.
Argentine prosecutors have repeatedly blamed Iran for directing the attack and dispatching Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group to execute it — claims denied by Iran.
“There is no reasonable person who doubts that sectors of Iran’s fanatical government are behind these atrocities,” Milei said late Wednesday, equating the Hamas militant attack against Israel on Oct. 7 with the AMIA bombing as well as a deadly attack in 1992 on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The president’s condemnation of Iran is nothing new, but his hard-line stance is.
His administration has been strikingly vocal in its defense of Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks, vowing to move Argentina’s embassy to contested Jerusalem and supporting the Israeli military’s devastating campaign in Gaza — in contrast to neighboring countries that have pulled ambassadors and even severed ties with Israel.
Milei has also professed a profound spiritual connection to Judaism and forged close ties with the Jewish community in Argentina, the biggest in South America. Although Milei hasn’t yet converted to Judaism, he studies Torah and regularly consults with a personal rabbi, Shimon Axel Wahnish, who he has appointed as the country’s ambassador to Israel.
The dramatic foreign policy shift — after previous Argentine governments attempted to collaborate with Iran to investigate the bombing — has delighted Israel and Jewish advocacy groups.
“The thing that’s different, finally, is that there’s a new president in Argentina,” said Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee and a former U.S. congressman, praising the “shared values” that he said now unite Argentina, the U.S. and Israel in new ways. “The president of the country speaks with clarity about this issue in a way that resonates.”
In his memorial speech, Linetzky from AMIA thanked Milei for designating Hamas as a terrorist organization and pressed him to continue prioritizing the case.
In the past week, Milei unveiled the terrorism designation, announced a revamp of the intelligence services and vowed to introduce legislation that would allow for the trial of suspects in absentia. Despite Interpol notices for their arrests, several Lebanese and Iranian citizens accused of involvement in the attack — including Iran’s interior minister — remain at large.
Last month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held the Argentine state responsible for its failure to prevent the attack and its deliberate efforts to obstruct justice. It ordered the Argentine government to continue its investigations.
Members of Active Memory have celebrated the order by the Inter-American court, whose jurisdiction Argentina acknowledges. But they said they have little faith in their government to close the case.
“We’ve seen these gestures made before, but the important thing is to move from gestures and words into concrete action,” said Enrique Greenberg, 53, a member of Active Memory.
Argentina’s top criminal court earlier this year came out with its first ruling on the case — naming the same Iranian and Lebanese officials that have long been blamed and upholding the convictions, and some acquittals, of judiciary officials accused of engaging in a major cover-up to shield Iran.
Active Memory has denounced the sentences as too few and too light.
As usual, the group held its own vigil in downtown Buenos Aires at the same time as the AMIA ceremony — the 1.5-kilometer (around a mile) distance between them a product of the bitter divisions that the elusive quest for justice has spawned within Argentina’s Jewish community.
There were no government officials at the Active Memory service, where Malamud delivered a tribute similar to the 29 speeches she gave before. Nonetheless, she found herself moved to tears.
“As has happened to me so many times, in this square,” she said, “the face of Andrés comes to me like a wink.”
___
Débora Rey contributed to this report.