JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

2011] THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND 59
ducted by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman between Buenos
Aires and Tehran that would set aside investigations into the embassy and
AMIA attacks in exchange for increased commercial ties with Iran. The
Israeli government reacted angrily, labeling this news as “very serious” and
warning that the Argentine conduct would constitute “a manifestation of
infinite cynicism and dishonor to the dead,” thus putting in doubt the invitation
previously extended to Timerman to visit Jerusalem.
The public prosecutor of the AMIA cause, Dr. Alberto Nisman, joined
by prominent Argentinians, denied the Profile story, but the government
remained silent. The Israeli ambassador in Buenos Aires, Daniel Gazit,
requested explanations from the Argentinian Ministry of Foreign Relations,
but ten days later, he informed the Jerusalem Post, he had not received an
official answer. Interrogated by the press, Timerman initially eluded the
entire topic, invoking Talmudic rules and invoking the memory of his
father, the famous journalist Jacobo Timerman. Finally, however, Timerman
issued the following statement as a refutation of the Profile story:
“There is no evidence that Argentina has changed its course of action,
which began in 2003 with the election of Néstor Kirchner and in which the
objective of our country is to investigate the attacks to the AMIA and the
Israeli embassy.”
Profile, by denying access to the documentation it used, further compromised
the story. The Simon Wiesenthal Center issued an order to release
the documentation, but Profile did not comply. In this atmosphere of doubts
and serious denunciations, it was a situation that called for the written text,
which would eliminate all ambiguity. Unfortunately, this text was never
provided.
The government also kept silent about another, related serious denunciation.
Federal judge Daniel Rafecas revealed that the repeated attacks in
front of the Israeli embassy were being organized by Luis D’Elía with
financing from the Iranian embassy. Despite the profound implications of
such a denunciation, the government chose not to comment on the matter;
in fact, it made a video endorsement of the launching of a demonstration in
Luna Park led by D’Elía. D’Elía had conducted a radio interview with Mohsen
Rabbani, who is on Interpol’s list of terrorists, thus giving him—a fugitive
from Argentine justice—a public platform to deny his trips to Brazil on
a false passport.
The Argentina of the Kirchners also disturbs in other ways. Néstor was
able to organize a competing summit in 2005 with a U.S. president, George
W. Bush, during his official visit (45,000 leftist activists crowded the stage
for the occasion); Cristina ordered an “operation sweepings” when North
American authorities indicated the existence of a chavista clandestine
financing of her electoral campaign; the chancellor can preach to the United