Israel Urges Argentina To Continue Prosecutor’s Work On Iran Case

Israel urged Argentine authorities on Monday to carry on with the work of a prosecutor who was found dead after having alleged a cover-up in the investigation of Iranian involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in which 85 people were killed.

Alberto Nisman had accused President Cristina Fernandez of having opened a secret back channel to a group of Iranians suspected of planting the bomb, with a view to clearing them so Argentina might trade grains for much-needed oil from Iran.

Argentina’s cabinet chief rejected the charge as “absurd.”

Nisman’s body was discovered in his apartment hours before he was due to explain his allegations at the Argentine parliament on Monday, authorities said. A formal ruling on the cause of his death is pending.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry noted Nisman’s death “in tragic circumstances.”

Nisman, the ministry said in a statement on Monday, was a “brave and prominent jurist who fought ceaselessly for justice [and] worked with great resolve to expose the identities of those who carried out the terrorist attack and those who sent them.

“The state of Israel voices hope that Argentine authorities will continue with Nisman’s work and make every effort to exact justice on those responsible for the terrorist attacks in Argentina.

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the January 20th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.