On this day, 31 years ago, Argentinians woke up with the news that one of the biggest terror attacks to date had happened in their beloved Buenos Aires: The AMIA bombing of 1994.
At 9:53 a.m., an explosion shook the streets of Buenos Aires. Just two years earlier, a similar scene unfolded with the terror bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, which killed 22 people and wounded hundreds.
This time, the scenes were much more difficult, with the whole building of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (the main Jewish community center in the country) disappearing in what seemed like an instant.
The building, located at Pasteur Street 633, lay in ruins, and rescue teams rushed in to try to save as many survivors as possible. Hours after the attack, the IDF dispatched soldiers from its Search and Rescue Brigade to help in Argentina.
The terror attack claimed the lives of 85 innocent people and left more than 300 wounded. Authorities concluded it was a suicide bombing, similar to the embassy attack, but in this case, the explosives were packed into a van.
According to the Israeli investigation, a Hezbollah terror cell stationed in South America conducted the attack with logistical support from the Iranian Islamic Republic.
Problems within Argentina’s judicial system, combined with a clear political push to conceal the truth, made it impossible to bring the perpetrators to justice.
AMIA: 31 years asking for justice
In Argentina, the traditional commemoration ceremony was held at 9:53 a.m. on Pasteur Street, where family members of the victims, alongside community leaders and hundreds of people, assembled together to say “present”.
“We listen to the names, surnames, and ages of the 85 fatal victims. We respond by saying present. We light a candle and place a flower in memory of each of those stories brutally and senselessly cut short,” the official AMIA account said in an X/Twitter post.
Other ceremonies were also held in Israel, with Argentina’s ambassador to Israel, Axel Wahnish, attending a ceremony in the Knesset on Monday, and another one on Thursday in Kfar Saba.
“Some people told me that I shouldn’t mix up what happened in Argentina and what happened here on October 7th,” said Wahnish during a speech in the Knesset. “But I told them, no, it is exactly the same. They are not two separate conflicts that have no connection to each other. It's the same fight, between good and evil.”
Milei took a step in the right direction, but there is still no justice
The AMIA case seemed unlikely to lead anywhere due to the political pressures exerted by Argentine and external officials. During the governments that followed the attack, no one was prosecuted, and the investigation was nearly discarded.
However, the situation changed once the current President of Argentina, Javier Milei, took office. Between his multiple victories, there are official arrest warrants issued by the Argentinian judicial system for the detention of both Iranian and Lebanese officials involved in the attacks.
The most well-known case is that of Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, whose arrest was officially requested by Argentina’s Foreign Ministry and signed by President Milei.
In the latest bid for justice, Argentine Judge Daniel Rafecas ordered a trial in absentia for ten Iranian and Hezbollah suspects, including former Iranian officials and Hezbollah operatives, in June 2025.