Washington, D.C., September 28, 1995 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the United States Congress to urge Argentina to enact aggressive counterterrorism measures to assist in the investigation of recent anti-Jewish terrorist bombings in Buenos Aires and to prevent similar attacks in the future.
In testimony before the House International Affairs Committee, ADL National Commissioner Barry Mehler stated that "fourteen months after the assault against the AMIA (the Jewish community) building, and over three years after the destruction of the Israeli embassy, little if any progress has been made."
Mr. Mehler noted that an April 1995 ADL leadership mission to Buenos Aires concluded that the Argentine government "has shown a greater seriousness and responsiveness investigating the AMIA bombing than what was shown following the embassy bombing." However, the investigation suffers from lack of expertise and coordination. ADL called on the American government to expand counterterrorism training for Argentine personnel.
To help prevent future attacks, ADL called for the establishment of a "tri-lateral commission" between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay to help control the porous borders between these countries and to maintain control of radical groups that live in these border areas.
ADL urged the U.S. to remain at the "vanguard of the international counterterrorism effort" through passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Terrorism Act. "The recent bombings in Buenos Aires, as well as those in Paris, Jerusalem and Oklahoma City demonstrate all too clearly that no country, no religious group, no individual is immune from the threat of terrorism," said Mr. Mehler. "The only effective antidote to this scourge is through aggressive local and multilateral counterterrorism measures."