BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — For the first time, an Argentine president will meet with the Israeli survivors and relatives of victims of the 1992 terrorist attack against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
President Mauricio Macri will host a group of 30 Israelis on Friday morning at his official residence prior to a ceremony marking 25 years since the bombing, which killed 29 and injured more than 200.
Previous presidents have met in the past with the families of Argentine victims.
Among those who will meet with Macri and participate in the remembrance ceremony are Israel’s current ambassador to India and Sri Lanka, Daniel Carmon, who lost his wife, Eliora, in the attack; the Israeli ambassador to Argentina at the time of the bombing, Yitzhak Shefi, and the director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Yuval Rotem.
Carmon is part of a campaign to stop terrorism featuring Argentine celebrities and the motto “peace without terror.”
A ceremony was held earlier this month in Jerusalem to mark the 25th anniversary of the attack according to the Hebrew calendar.
“We knew straight away that Iran was behind this heinous attack,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the March 6 event. “Iran set it in motion, Iran planned it and Iran, through its proxy Hezbollah, also carried it out.”
Netanyahu added that since the embassy bombing Iran, through its proxy Hezbollah, has established a global network of terror in more than 30 countries on five continents.
“It is the biggest instigator of terror in the world,” he said.
Netanyahu also noted his confidence in the Argentine president.
“Having spoken with President Macri, I am impressed that he understands the problem well, and I intend to meet with him in the near future to strengthen the relations between our two countries in many areas, including these vital areas of enhancing defense and fighting terror,” he said.
Argentina has accused Iran of the 1992 attack and also of the deadly 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, but both officially remain unresolved.
