JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

146 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 3:141
activists, and eventually selected scholars to advocate in their favor. A radical
left-wing leader, Luis D’Elía, has become an actual spokesman for Iran,
and has publicly endorsed the theory that “the AMIA Center might have
been bombed by ‘the Jewish far right’; remember that they were the ones
who murdered [Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin.” D’Elía has recently
launched his campaign for the 2011 Parliamentary elections; joining him
was the Iranian chargé d’affaires. He has also led solidarity missions to
Tehran. Although his constituency is not very wide, D’Elía has a very high
profile in the media, and has been an ally of both Néstor and Cristina
Kirchner.
When the Argentine justice issued the indictment against Iranian officials,
in 2006, the then Venezuelan Ambassador to Argentina instructed
D’Elia to organize in Buenos Aires a demonstration in support of Iran. 8 The
incident ended with Argentina requesting that Venezuela changed its
ambassador (Chávez had no other option than accepting).
Another example of Iran’s counter action in Argentina is an academic
agreement between the University of La Plata (a public university, 40 miles
away from Buenos Aires), and the University of Tehran, whose chairman,
Farhad Rahbar, is a former deputy minister of intelligence of the Iranian
regime. The agreement was fostered by the Asociación Argentina Islámica
(Argentine Islamic Association).
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THE “MODERATES”
If Venezuela is the closest ally for Iran in Latin America and Argentina
is currently the country holding coldest relations with it, there are
others who are playing a more ambiguous role.
In this sense, probably the most disturbing and worrying situation was
the warm reception by former Brazilian president Lula da Silva to Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, a fantastic PR opportunity for Ahmadinejad and Iran.
Lula even praised the “legitimate elections” won by Iran’s president in 2009
(we only need to remember the brutal oppression against dissidents in
Tehran’s streets). The motivations were not only economic—Iran is an
interesting market for Brazilian goods—but also political: Lula had
explained that he wanted to “bring Iran to the negotiations table and help
building bridges for dialogue” with the Western world. The businesses continue;
the mediation initiative was a fiasco.
We must add that there is a Brazilian connection to the AMIA attack:
according to the investigation, Samuel Salman El Reda, a Colombian of
Lebanese origin accused of being the local leader of the operative terrorist
8. See http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2006/11/15/elpais/p-00315.htm.