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.”

Last Wednesday, Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu met for the first time since the former’s inauguration. Since then, Haim Katz, Israel’s tourism minister, became the first Israeli cabinet member to visit Saudi Arabia publicly, and Washington announced that it will include the Jewish state in its visa-waiver program. Richard Kemp, writing shortly after last week’s meeting, comments:

Finally, a full nine months into Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest government, President Joe Biden deigned to allow him into his presence. Historically, American presidents have invited newly installed Israeli prime ministers to the White House shortly after taking office. Even this meeting on Wednesday, however, was not in Washington but in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Such pointed lack of respect is not the way to treat one of America’s most valuable allies, and perhaps the staunchest of them all. It is all about petty political point-scoring and interfering in Israel’s internal democratic processes. But despite his short-sighted rebuke to the state of Israel and its prime minister, Biden actually needs at least as much from Netanyahu as Netanyahu needs from him. With the 2024 election looming, Biden is desperate for a foreign-policy success among a sea of abject failures.

In his meeting with Netanyahu, Biden no doubt played the Palestinian issue up as some kind of Saudi red line and the White House has probably been pushing [Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman] in that direction. But while the Saudis would no doubt want some kind of pro-forma undertaking by Israel for the sake of appearances, [a nuclear program and military support] are what they really want. The Saudis’ under-the-table backing for the original Abraham Accords in the face of stiff Palestinian rejection shows us where its priorities lie.

Israel remains alone in countering Iran’s nuclear threat, albeit with Saudi and other Arab countries cheering behind the scenes. This meeting won’t have changed that. We must hope, however, that Netanyahu has been able to persuade Biden of the electoral benefit to him of settling for a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia rather than holding out for the unobtainable jackpot of a two-state solution.