Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

On 30th anniversary of AMIA bombing, House reps call for justice

“We will never forget the victims, their families and all those touched by this horrific tragedy,” Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said of the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires.

AMIA Bombing Memorial
Thousands of people attended a memorial in Argentina for the 85 people killed and more than 300 others wounded in the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, July 18, 2022. Credit: Ellie Cohanim.

The four co-chairs of the Latino-Jewish Congressional Caucus submitted a resolution on Wednesday to hold accountable the Iranian-sponsored terrorists who bombed the Buenos Aires Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building on July 18, 1994, leaving 85 dead and more than 300 injured.

Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) sponsored the resolution.

“It has been three decades since the lethal AMIA Jewish Center bombing took place in Buenos Aires, and we continue to tirelessly demand justice and accountability for the vile perpetrators responsible for the attack, including Iran’s current Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi and other terrorist proxies,” said Balart.

Wasserman Schultz warned that “with antisemitism on the rise around the world, this attack on Argentina’s thriving Jewish community must not go unanswered. Congressmen Diaz-Balart, Espaillat, Gonzales and I are proud to honor the victims of this attack and champion justice for their loved ones.”

Gonzales said the Caucus’s leaders “remain a steady hand in Congress in the fight to eradicate the horrors of antisemitism. We will never forget the victims, their families and all those touched by this horrific tragedy—may justice and accountability prevail.”

Describing the resolution as “our unified commitment to ensuring justice for each of the victims,” Espaillat stated that “terrorism and antisemitic hate have no place in our society, and this legislative effort reaffirms our solidarity with the Jewish community of Argentina and around the world.”

“If Michigan Hillel wants to remain the center of Jewish life on campus, it cannot retreat from one of the central and challenging parts of being Jewish there,” Seth Mendel, of CAMERA, told JNS.
“Your ability to find the strength to rise above the pain, to combat the immediate threat to your life, and to operate sound judgment demonstrates the strength of your character,” Israel’s president wrote.
“We tried to make it clear to them that this is a memorial that was built for those who died in a horrible terrorist attack,” Lawrence Puccini told JNS.
Israel assailed the decision as a “grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”