With the recent panic over the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris and its implications for the future of free speech in the Western world — in addition to the safety of Jews in Europe — UCLA students have done little to discuss other atrocities in the world. Among these number the 2000 Nigerians killed in a recent Boko Haram attack and the mysterious death of Alberto Nisman, an Argentine prosecutor who was researching the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, which took the lives of 85 individuals.
Experts call the 1994 AMIA bombing “the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history and one of the worst incidents of anti-Jewish violence in the Diaspora since World War II.” But strangely, no significant arrests were made. That is, until Nisman agreed to take the case, under the condition that he be allowed to “follow the leads and take the investigation wherever the evidence trail led.” Unfortunately, the trail led him to a bullet in the side of his head.
Originally, officials pronounced Nisman’s death — occurring the night before his presentation to the Argentine government, which would implicate Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a scam to cover up Tehran’s role in the AMIA bombing in exchange for oil shipments to Argentina — a suicide. As unlikely as this sounds, President Kirchner referred to the death as a suicide, before later partially redacting her statement under the onslaught of overwhelming evidence. In Argentina, mass protests are currently taking place as citizens rally against Nisman’s untimely death and its implications for the veracity of the government’s involvement. Free speech and religious freedom are again under fire.
In order to share her expert analysis of the situation and what it means for the future of the United States’ involvement with Iran, Toby Dershowitz, Vice President of Government Relations and Strategy for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is affording Ha’Am an exclusive interview. Stay tuned for more information.
