Argentina

Football star’s campaign for murdered journalist

Jonathan Gilbert — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:00:43 +0100

A sporting legend is demanding the resignation of Brazil’s football chief for inciting the murder of a Jewish journalist.

Romario, who scored 1,000 goals in a celebrated international career, has accused Jose Maria Marin, the president of the CBF, Brazilian football’s governing body, over the death of former BBC reporter Vladimir Herzog in 1975.

Together with Herzog’s son, Ivo, Romario, who is now a member of the Brazilian parliament, handed in a petition last month of 55,000 signatures calling on Mr Marin to step down.

Mr Marin, who is in charge of Brazil’s preparations for hosting the 2014 World Cup, responded by heading to the courts, where he accused Romario of defamation and slander.

Vladimir Herzog was a renowned journalist who, aged just 38, was tortured to death by intelligence agents working for the country’s military dictatorship of the time.

He was born in Yugoslavia to Jewish parents who fled to Italy, and then Brazil, to escape the Nazis. He lived in London for three years in the 1960s, where he worked for the BBC.

In 1975, he was director of journalism at Sao Paolo-based network TV Cultura when agents summoned him for questioning about his links to the Communist Party, which was outlawed. At the interrogation Mr Herzog was alleged to have been tortured to death, though his original death certificate indicated he had committed suicide.

Mr Marin, now 81, had criticised Mr Herzog in a speech he delivered at the Sao Paolo state legislature two weeks before his interrogation. The following year he made a speech praising Sergio Fleury, the head of a repressive police division who was reportedly involved in Mr Herzog’s torture. Mr Marin was a congressman for ARENA, which supported the military government.

“His past is linked to the dictatorship,” said Romario.

Ivo Herzog said: “It would be unacceptable for Marin to head the inaugural ceremony of our World Cup, watched by millions worldwide.”

The CBF has defended Mr Marin, branding the allegations “absolutely false”.

Appeal over Argentina-Iran deal

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:30:27 +0000

Argentina’s main Jewish organisations have announced that they are launching a legal appeal in the Supreme Court against the government’s controversial “memorandum of understanding” with Iran aimed at investigating the 1994 bombing of the Amia Jewish centre in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

The Buenos Aires-Tehran agreement was signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on January 27 and ratified by the Argentinian Parliament by 131 votes to 113 on February 28.

The Argentinian authorities have accused eight Iranians of responsibility for the Amia bombing — including the current Defence Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, and the former president, Ali Rafsanjani — and have demanded their extradition. However, the Argentinian Foreign Minister, Héctor Timerman, has stated that the new agreement will allow the Argentinian authorities to interrogate only the Iranians for whom Interpol has issued an arrest warrant and not the other three accused — who include Mr Rafsanjani and the former foreign minister, Ali Akbar Velayati.

Meanwhile, Ha’aretz has claimed that Mr Timerman, who is Jewish, warned the Israeli Ambassador to Argentina, Dora Shavit, that Israel had no right to criticise the agreement with Tehran: “We are a sovereign state. Israel does not speak in the name of the Jewish people and does not represent them,” Mr Timerman was reported to have told Ms Shavit.

Amia bomb probe will be a ‘farce’

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:00:40 +0000

The Jewish world has condemned an agreement signed by Argentina and Iran in Addis Ababa this week which will establish a “truth commission” to probe the bombing of the Amia Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994. That attack left 85 dead and more than 300 wounded.

Argentinian authorities have accused eight Iranians of responsibility for the bombing — including current Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi, and former president Ali Rafsanjani.

According to the Addis Ababa agreement, the case can be investigated by prosecutors both in Tehran and in Buenos Aires. The Truth Commission will be composed of independent lawyers who cannot come from either Argentina or Iran.

Shimon Samuels, director of international relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles, said: “This is a farce. It will cover up terrorism and encourage the [Iranian] clerics to become sponsors of future attacks.”

Amia — the umbrella group representing Argentina’s Jewish community denounced the accord, saying that it was up to the Argentinian authorities to investigate the bombing.

An Israeli statement said: “Ignoring everything carried out by Argentinian justice and replacing it with a commission which, at best, will release, within some undefined deadline, a ‘recommendation’ to the parties involved, represents a setback to the objective of obtaining justice.”

Did Iran bomb Amia? The evidence is clear

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Iranian and Argentine diplomats recently concluded a first round of negotiations over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. Argentina has long sought the extradition of eight Iranians — including current Defence Minister Ahmed Vahidi and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — for their alleged roles in the 1994 bombing of the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association (Amia) that killed 85 and wounded 300.

The Argentinian state investigation into the bombing has concluded that Iran and Hizbollah were behind the attack. And yet, in the context of this first round of negotiations, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Iran “condemns and rejects terrorism charges against its citizens.” In rejecting the results of an intensive Argentinean investigation, which benefited from FBI assistance, the Iranian spokesman suggested that Iran’s only real interest in talking to its Argentinean counterparts was to pin the attack on someone else.

A broad range of evidence appears to tie Iranian agents to the attack. Abolghasem Mesbahi, a defector from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), testified to Argentine investigators that the Amia building was picked from a list of targets at a meeting of senior Iranian officials in Mashaad, Iran, on August 14, 1993.

The list was allegedly supplied to those gathered by Moshen Rabbani, who officially served as a representative of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture in Buenos Aires and led a local mosque but who is described by Argentinian prosecutors as “the driving force” behind an Iranian intelligence network in Argentina.

According to the investigators, more than a year before the bombing, Rabbani visited several dealerships to inquire about purchasing a Renault Trafic van, the same type of vehicle used to bomb the Amia building. Once the target was selected, Iranian officials tapped Rabbani to organise the logistics for the attack and liaise with Hizbollah operatives on the ground.

Much of the funding for the Amia operation appears to have flowed through bank accounts controlled by Rabbani. In December 1993, two months after he returned from attending the go-ahead meeting in Mashahd and four months before the bombing, Rabbani opened a new bank account into which $150,812 was transferred.

Rabbani was allegedly assisted by an array of diplomats at Iran’s embassy in Buenos Aires, and others who suddenly swarmed into Argentina in a frenzy of visits leading up to the attack.

To deny Iran’s role in the bombing looks like suspending reality. To ignore the evidence in favour of diplomatic relations would be a travesty of justice and an insult to the victims of the attack. Iran’s goal in these negotiations is clear: to press Argentina to bury its probe in favour of improved diplomatic relations. Which begs the question: what is there for Argentina to discuss?

Iran denies Buenos Aires bomb plant in high-level talks

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Argentina’s Jewish leadership has reacted angrily to Tehran’s renewed denial of any involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (Amia) building in Buenos Aires.

The denial came during a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva on Monday between Héctor Timerman, Argentina’s Jewish Foreign Minister, and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi.

The Argentinian authorities have demanded that Iran hand over eight Iranian diplomats and one Lebanese person whom they accuse of being behind the Amia bombing on July 18, 1994 — the deadliest-ever terrorist attack on Argentinian soil which left 85 dead and hundreds injured. Tehran has consistently denied any involvement in either that bombing or the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier, in 1992, in which 29 were killed and 200 wounded.

This week, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast again rejected all accusations against Tehran, adding: “Negotiations with Argentina will continue until we arrive at a clear conclusion.”

In response, Amia’s president, Guillermo Borger, said that if Iran persisted in denying responsibility, the current dialogue between Buenos Aires and Tehran on the issue should be called off. Mr Borger said that the opportunity for bilateral dialogue had “come and gone” when the “Iranian Foreign Ministry upheld that its citizens have no connection to the attack.”

Inside sources, cited this week by the Argentinian press, stated that “all alternatives are on the table” — believed to be a reference to the possibility of a trial being held in a neutral country, or the intervention of both countries’ Supreme Courts to try the accused.

Meanwhile, it was reported in Israel that, just days before the Geneva talks, Itzhak Shoham, head of the Latin America desk at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, had travelled to Buenos Aires to warn the Argentinian government that Israel would not allow the Amia bombing “to be swept under the carpet”.

The Israeli government expressed “disappointment” last month over the talks, saying there was “no room for doubt” that Tehran had been responsible for the attack.

UK Ambassador to Chile apologises for Falklands tweet

Anna Sheinman — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:17:35 +0100

Britain’s Ambassador to Chile Jon Benjamin has apologised for a tweet which suggested Argentinians lost the Falklands War because they are “cowards”.

His post, written in Spanish, referenced a lewd football chant sung by Chilean fans when their team plays Argentina. The chant translates as: “Argentines, gays, they took the Falklands off you because you are cowards.”

Mr Benjamin said the tweet had been intended as a private message to a friend. The message alluded to the song, saying: “Which islands did they take off you and for being what?”

Clearly pleased at having secured a ticket to watch the World Cup qualifying match between Chile and Argentina on Tuesday night, he continued: “Perhaps I’ll discover the answer at the national stadium on Tuesday? I’ve already got my ticket.”

The Falklands reference provoked outrage from Argentines and Chileans alike. A Buenos Aires TV station accused Mr Benjamin of disrespecting the nation. Chilean ex-telecommunications minister Pablo Bello was equally critical. He tweeted: "Your comments are in bad taste, ambassador. You don't need to appeal to Chilean nationalist chauvinism to fulfil your diplomatic mission. Doing so reflects badly on you."

On Twitter the diplomat, who describes himself as a “Jewish atheist”, received abusive responses threatening violence and making antisemitic remarks. One tweeter called him an “ugly Jew”, another said “‘Jewish’ says it all. Nasty.”

Mr Benjamin, who has been ambassador to Santiago since December 2009, has since removed the tweet and apologised.

“I’m sorry I offended with a private message that I published by mistake,” he said. “I feel great affection for my Argentine friends and respect for their national side.”

Fury over secret Argentina and Iran meetings

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:28:56 +0100

Argentinian Jewish leaders have condemned secret negotiations between the governments of Iran and Argentina that took place last week to discuss the bombing of the headquarters of Amia (Argentine Jewish Mutual Association) community centre in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994. The blast left 85 people dead and hundreds injured.

Two years earlier, in 1992, an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people and wounded 200. The Argentinian judiciary issued an international warrant in 2006 for the arrest of seven Iranians and one Lebanese citizen, but Iran has consistently denied any involvement in either attack.

Representatives from Amia and Daia (Delegation of Argentinian Jewish Associations), as well as relatives of the victims of the 1994 bombing, were due to meet this week to draw up the joint declaration denouncing the talks which opened between the Argentinian Foreign Minister, Héctor Timerman, and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, in New York on September 27.

The signatories were expected to agree that “there can be no valid dialogue between Argentina and Iran until justice has been done in the Amia cause”. The talks, they said, were “suspicious” and concealed other interests such as bilateral trade relations.

Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, said she hoped that the talks with the Iranians would offer up “concrete results” on the Amia bombing.

The president of Daia, Aldo Donzis, said he doubted that Tehran would collaborate over the Amia probe.

Sofía Guterman, whose daughter Andrea was killed in the Amia attack, told the Argentinian daily, La Nación: “We have to draw attention to the fact that Iran’s strategy seems to be to delay the probe … and that there are certain people who do not represent us.”

This last allusion was a reference to Sergio Burstein, the co-leader of the Group of Relatives and Friends of the Victims of the Amia Attack, who agrees with the call for justice but is in favour of dialogue.

According to the Argentinian Foreign Ministry, the two countries had agreed to continue the bilateral discussions at the UN’s Geneva HQ later this month “with the aim of exploring legal mechanisms which are not in conflict with the legal systems of Argentina and Iran”. This process would continue “until a mutually acceptable solution was reached… on all the issues surrounding the Amia case”.

In the US Congress, the new talks between Buenos Aires and Tehran was described as “worrying” and seen as political rather than aimed at resolving the issue of the Amia bombing.

Mr Donzis said: “We have always been opposed to dialogue with Iran while it is unwilling to hand over the accused. But hearing the Iranian president’s proposal at the UN to set up a working group to investigate the [Amia] attack, we believe Argentina should take this as an insult. Argentinian justice has already shown, with irrefutable evidence, that several Iranian officials were involved.”

Iron Barbie, queen of the boxing ring

Jonathan Gilbert — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:58:23 +0100

In a gritty Buenos Aires gym, Carolina Duer punches furiously, ducking and shuffling her feet in between jabs.

Duer, a Jewish Argentine known as "The Iron Barbie", is super flyweight world champion and successfully defended her title for the fifth time earlier this month.

"I dominated the fight from start to finish," she says. Duer overcame Romanian Corina Carlescu on home soil when the referee stopped the bout in the fifth round.

"I landed so many body shots that Carlescu vomited," Duer, 33, told the JC. "Then in the fifth, I hit her with a few combinations. She had no response."

Duer's grandfather was born in Damascus, and was part of an Arab immigration wave to Argentina during the early 20th century.

She was originally referred to by another nickname – "The Turk". But her feistiness in the ring, together with her good looks and pink gloves, mean "The Iron Barbie" has stuck.

Duer is one of 11 female world champions in Argentina and the only Jew.

"I like to go to shul sometimes," she says. "The Jewish people have a beautiful history. I'm proud of that and I love Yiddish food."

Duer was born in Buenos Aires – home to around 200,000 Jews – and went to a Jewish primary school. She also had a batmitzvah and toured Israel aged 17.

Nearly a decade ago, she was looking for a way to get fit and accompanied a friend to the same gym where she trains today.

As she watched, a man shouted to her from across the ring: "You're a boxer! Come back on Monday and I'll coach you."

Duer returned and began to train under his tutorship, though she had no intention of fighting. "I was chubby," she says. "All I wanted to do was lose weight."

But Alberto Zacarías, now 52, knew he had come across a special talent. "From the first session I knew she had it," he says. Duer would become his first and only world champion.

She contested her first bout in 2003 and won 19 of 20 amateur fights. In 2007, Zacarías told her she could make it as a pro.

But Duer's career nearly ended after she clashed heads with an opponent and cracked her eye socket.

She recovered, however, and became South American champion, before claiming her world crown in December 2010 when she beat Italian Loredana Piazza on points.

"It was an incredible feeling," she says. "I was so happy, I didn't know how to celebrate."

With her victory over Carlescu, Duer has won 12 pro bouts and lost three. She holds the World Boxing Organisation's belt, but there are three others in her 52kg division she is now eyeing.

"I don't know how long I'll go on for," she says. "But I'd like to unify the division." That could mean trips to Mexico and Japan, her first fights outside Argentina.

Duer used to box between shifts as a waitress at her family's restaurant. Today she works as a manager for younger fighters, eroding the dominance held by a handful of promoters in Argentina before her rise to fame.

Duer views boxing as a tool for social cohesion and discussed the idea last year with her president, Cristina Kirchner, to whom she also gave a pair of her famed pink gloves.

"I do a lot of work with kids on the street," she says. "I explain to them that boxing isn't violent. It can be used to give them focus. It's good for both body and mind.

"I've come a long way since 2003 when I'd arrive for training with make-up on. I went from nothing to world champ in nine years, and today boxing is everything to me."

Jewish groups highlight Buenos Aires anniversary after Bulgaria blast

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:12:42 +0100

Jewish groups around the world have offered condolences to the friends and family of the six Israeli tourists killed in an explosion on a bus in Bulgaria and highlighted that the blast coincided with the 18th anniversary of the bombing of the Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires.

Israel has blamed Iran for masterminding Wednesday's attack in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas. Investigators have also linked the 1994 attack in Argentina, in which 85 people died, to Iran but despite the Iranian government and terrorist organisation Hizbollah being charged over the attack in 2006, no-one has ever been convicted.

"While separated by years and by miles, these attacks are related: the targets were Jews, they were civilians, they were children, women and men said the president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. "We stand with Israel and Jews around the world to decry this horror and we stand in solidarity with all who seek the paths to peace."

"Once again, Israelis abroad have been targeted by terrorists," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "The attack in Bulgaria serves as another reminder that terrorism against Israelis has no borders, and that terrorists will not miss an opportunity to seek out and kill Israeli or Jewish civilians in cold blood.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder added: "Netanyahu's comments regarding the Iranian regime's involvement in this deadly attack reminds the world of the role Iran, and the terrorist groups it supports, play in global terrorism."

"Tragically, there isn't a day that Israelis do not have to grapple with the scourge of terrorism that emanate from multiple sources including Iran, Hamas, Hizbollah and al-Qaeda affiliates," said Rabbi Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper of the human rights organisation, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

"This deadly attack must serve as a warning that the international community must never isolate Israel when it comes to the battle against global terrorism."

Ort aids tribute to an ex-pupil who died alone

Jessica Elgot — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:12:23 +0100

Long-lost family of a German-Jewish refugee who died alone in his Maida Vale flat will gather on Sunday for the stone-setting.

In December 2010, British Ort was contacted by police searching for relatives of Franz Joseph Nebel, whose body had been found some months earlier.

British Ort executive director Dr Noga Zivan said police had found a reference to Ort at the flat - Mr Nebel had attended an Ort school in Berlin. Although Ort was unable to help the police, it "arranged the funeral for Mr Nebel, which took place on Boxing Day 2010 in the presence of only a British Ort staff member and her husband, as well as one old boy and his wife."

But relatives have since been located and the stone-setting will commemorate Mr Nebel, his two brothers, parents and wife.

"His neighbours, friends and newly-discovered family have been invited, so that we can give him the proper ceremony he deserved," Dr Zivan said.

Among those at the stone-setting will be Israel-based civil engineer Uri Nebel Inbal, a second cousin. "I have done a lot of research into family history and found people living in Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, all over the world. It's quite amazing," he said.

"I have visited England maybe 20 times on business but I never thought to check the phone book to see if I recognised any names."

The Berlin school was set up for German-Jewish children who could not attend mainstream schools in the Hitler era.

It was eventually decided to move the 215 pupils to the UK and a group of 104 boys and seven teachers left three days before the outbreak of war. The second group never made it out of Berlin.