MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina/Iran accord increases crossfire between government and Jewish community

Former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo: “the risks of the truth commission”

A new crossfire has emerged between the Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and the Jewish community over the agreement reached by the Argentine government with Iran to investigate the 1994 bombing of a Jewish institution in Buenos Aires which left 85 dead and hundreds injured, and remains unresolved.

The Jewish community has rejected the deal and called for a new accord insisting that the work over the years by Argentine prosecutors and judges should be included and question the creation of a ‘truth commission’.

Former International Criminal Court prosecutor and Argentine Jewish community advisor Luis Moreno Ocampo assured on Sunday that there is “the risk that Iran could use the ‘truth commission’ to hide the responsibility of those responsible for the crimes.”

Ocampo, currently advising DAIA and AMIA Jewish organizations on the agreement pointed out that the Jewish organizations “have questioned the accord and asked not to risk the investigation led by Argentine prosecutors and judges or any conclusions they may reach in the future.”

In a written statement, the former prosecutor warned that “if the Truth Commission acts in bad faith, this could hinder the investigation and the legitimacy of the Argentine justice’s actions.”

“The main concern is that the success or failure of these efforts would depend on the commission member’s capability or integrity, because they are going to evaluate the veracity of the information obtained so far,” he explained.

“If possible, it would be good to know the names of those being considered to take part in the commission,” he added.

“The Senate is the constitutional environment where all the doubts created by this initiative can be cleared up in order to find some common ground,” Moreno Ocampo said.

He made these statements after a new exchange between the Argentine government and the Jewish organizations mainly because of the creation of the investigative commission.

On Saturday President Cristina Fernández criticized the head of the AMIA Jewish community Guillermo Borger for saying that the agreement with Iran as it stands does not impede a possible third terrorist attack.

“The people and the Judiciary deserve to know” about a possible third terrorist attack said Cristina Fernandez by way of her personal Twitter account.

“I consider Borger to be a respectable person. What could he possibly have up his sleeve to make such an affirmation? If there were to be a terrorist attack because of the agreement with Iran, who would be the intellectual and physical mastermind?”.

From Río Gallegos, where she travelled to spend the long weekend, the Argentine president added that “it’s clear that it could never be the signatory countries” and then questioning, “could it be those who have rejected the agreement? Countries, people, or intelligence services? Who?”

“I think that the Argentine people and the Judiciary in particular deserve to know what Guillermo Borger, the head of the AMIA knows”, concluded Cristina Fernandez.