Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The AMIA/Nisman issue in Argentina continues

Meir Margalit has a take on the role of conservative Jews in the current dispute over the AMIA case in Argentina and the suicide of prosecutor Alberto Nisman in Argentina’s Jews are serving the far right’s silent revolution Haaretz 01/27/2015:

About a week ago I wrote in Haaretz’s Hebrew edition that the murder of prosecutor Alberto Nisman reeked of a well-timed right-wing conspiracy, in cahoots with former police and army officials, to overthrow the government and destroy Argentina’s democracy, still weak after 30 years.

Indeed, as information leaks out, the conclusion that Argentina is undergoing an attempted revolution strengthens. This is an elegant, sophisticated and refined revolution. It’s being carried out not by tanks or attacks on the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s White House, but by stoking the kind of social and economic chaos that overthrew Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973, which Naomi Klein described so well in her book “The Shock Doctrine.”

And here, amid all the commotion, smoke and disinformation, surfaces the Jewish connection — mainly because the affair revolves around the 1994 terror attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires — and the 85 victims who were buried underneath. Second, the journalist Damián Pachter who broke the news of Nisman’s death received death threats and fled to Israel, leaving behind a trail of speculation on his motives.

Worse still is the role the Jewish community is unwittingly playing in this despicable affair as it protests the deal Argentina signed with Iran in the attempt to absolve Tehran of responsibility for the terror attack. This deal is controversial and problematic no doubt, but it does not measure up to Israel’s arms deals with Argentina’s junta during the dictatorship launched in 1976. In the 1970s, the number of Jews murdered by the junta by Israeli-made arms was several times greater than the number of Jews later murdered by Tehran’s minions in Buenos Aires.

And the community doesn’t notice that the far right is latching onto the legitimate protest and building the revolution's foundations based on its criticism. Not only does this attempt not serve the Jews, but you don’t have to be a historian to know that it will target them sooner or later.

Nisman, who was murdered a week ago, is an example of the Jewish drama in Argentina. He was infected by the obsession with Iran that infected the entire community. He was nourished by materials that Israel gave him (according to the local media), and was used by the right wing to promote a revolution he probably never wanted. In the end, he paid with his life. [my emphasis]
I hadn't seen the reference to "materials that Israel gave him." I'm going to reserve judgment on that part until I see more.

In a recent statement on Nisman's case, the prosecutor investigating it, Viviana Fein, says that he did not suddenly cut his Madrid vacation to come back to Argentina to file his already-discredited report accusing President Cristina Fernández of trying to shield Iranian suspects in the Iranian case. (Fein: Nisman did not bring forward his return to Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Herald 01/28/2015):

Nisman interrupted the sweet fifteen celebration of one of his daughters in Europe and came back to Buenos Aires on January 12, in order to file his controversial accusation over a supposed impunity cover-up in the AMIA case.

“As regards whether Dr Nisman returned suddenly [to Argentina] buying a ticket form Madrid: no, Dr Nisman bought his return ticket from Buenos Aires on December 31. He did not change his ticket from Madrid,” State Prosecutor Fein told reporters today.
If this is the case, it removes one of the mysteries about Nisman's death.

No comments: