The Iranian Bombing of a Jewish Center in Argentina Occurred in 1994. Iran Hasn’t Changed.

Twenty-three years ago, Iran through its agents in Hizballah bombed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and wounding hundreds more. Iran has marked the occasion by saying that it is ready to work with Interpol to resolve the case. That’s nonsense, writes Matthew Levitt:

Tehran’s outreach . . . should be seen for what it is: The fox trying to weasel its way into the investigation of the raided henhouse. If Iran wants to help investigate the AMIA bombing, it should present the Iranians indicted for the crime to Argentine prosecutors. Anything else is hollow rhetoric.

The hypocrisy of Iran’s offer is further highlighted by the fact that it has continued to support Hizballah since 1994, as Levitt points out:

For example, on July 18, 2012—eighteen years to the day after the AMIA bombing—Hizballah operatives murdered six people and wounded many more in a bus bombing at the Burgas airport in Bulgaria. . . .

Beyond Europe, Hizballah activities continued unabated in South America. In November 2014, a Hizballah plot was foiled in Peru. More recently, a Hizballah operative based in the U.S. was sent by the group to carry out surveillance in Panama.

In the past five months, several other suspected operatives have been arrested in the U.S. for their alleged financial ties to Hizballah. Kassim Tajideen was extradited to the United States from Morocco in March 2017 and was charged with being a “prominent financial supporter of the Hizballah terror organization.” In June, Ali Kourani and Samer el Debek were arrested in New York and Michigan, respectively, for their alleged activities in support of Hizballah. Both were arrested on charges of “providing, attempting and conspiring to provide material support to Hizballah,” as well as receiving “military-type training from Hizballah.”

Read more at The Hill

More about: AMIA bombing, Hizballah, Iran, Politics & Current Affairs

Why South Africa Has Led the Legal War against Israel

South Africa filed suit with the International Court of Justice in December accusing Israel of genocide. More recently, it requested that the court order the Jewish state to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip—something which, of course, Israel has been doing since the war began. Indeed, the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has had a long history of support for the Palestinian cause, but Orde Kittrie suggests that the current government, which is plagued by massive corruption, has more sinister motives for its fixation on accusing Israel of imagined crimes:

ANC-led South Africa has . . . repeatedly supported Hamas. In 2015 and 2018, the ANC and Hamas signed memoranda of understanding pledging cooperation against Israel. The Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper that previously won an international award for exposing ANC corruption, has reported claims that Iran “essentially paid the ANC to litigate against Israel in the ICJ.”

The ANC-led government says it is motivated by humanitarian principle. That’s contradicted by its support for Russia, and by [President Cyril] Ramaphosa’s warmly welcoming a visit in January by Mohamed Dagalo, the leader of the Sudanese-Arab Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. Ramaphosa’s smiling, hand-holding welcome of Dagalo occurred two months after the RSF’s systematic massacre of hundreds of non-Arab Sudanese refugees in Darfur.

While the ANC has looted its own country and aided America’s enemies, the U.S. is insulating the party from the consequences of its corruption and mismanagement.

In Kittrie’s view, it is “time for Congress and the Biden administration to start helping South Africa’s people hold Ramaphosa accountable.”

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More about: International Law, Iran, South Africa