AMBASSADOR MEETING WITH AMIA FRIENDS AND FAMILY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 001327

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHA FOR A/S SHANNON, DASDUDDY, AND DMCCARTHY, WHA/BSC FOR
FRIEDMAN, AND BLAKENEY NEA/IR FOR HWOOSTER, S/CT FOR
VIRGINIA PALMER AND ARNOLD SIERRA, NSC FOR JUAN ZARATE AND
JOSE CARDENAS, FBI FOR CTD IRAN-HIZBALLAH UNIT AND OIO
AMERICAS UNIT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2017
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV KJUS AR FBI IS
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETING WITH AMIA FRIENDS AND FAMILY
GROUP

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4(b)and(d)


1. (C) Summary. On July 10, Ambassador Wayne, accompanied
by Legal Attache and poloff, met with representatives from
the Friends and Families of victims of the 1994 Argentine
Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) terrorist attack (FAV).
The Ambassador praised the FAV's efforts to keep the memory
of the AMIA attack and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy
alive. He expressed support for their and the Argentine
government's efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice and
assured FAV representatives that the USG continues to support
GOA efforts to lobby Interpol members to uphold Interpol's
Executive Committee (EC) recommendation to issue six
international arrest warrants (Red Notices) for suspects
implicated in the AMIA attack. FAV representatives thanked
the USG for its support, and offered their perspective on
additional leads the GOA should have pursued in the AMIA
investigation. They also expressed concern over Iran's
"aggressive" diplomatic effort to lobby Interpol members to
overturn the EC decision. They asked that the USG continue
to keep pressure on Interpol members to vote in favor of
upholding the EC decision. End Summary.


2. (C) On July 10, Ambassador Wayne, accompanied by Legal
Attache and poloff, met with representatives from the Friends
and Families of victims of the 1994 Argentine Israeli Mutual
Association (AMIA) terrorist attack (FAV). The Ambassador
praised the FAV's perseverance in pursuing justice in the
AMIA attack and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy and
for keeping the memory of the victims alive. He expressed
support for their and the GOA's efforts to bring the
perpetrators to justice. FAV representative, Luis Czyzewski,
thanked the USG for its support, and asked that the USG lobby
Interpol members prior to the November General Assembly
urging them to vote in favor of upholding Interpol's
Executive Committee (EC) recommendation to issue six
international arrest warrants (Red Notices) for suspects
implicated in the AMIA attack. He noted that although
Interpol's General Assembly has never overturned a unanimous
EC decision before, the FAV remains concerned over Iran's
"aggressive" diplomatic effort to lobby Interpol members to
overturn the decision. The Ambassador stated that the USG
stands ready to assist GOA efforts to lobby Interpol members
to uphold the EC decision. He further explained that the GOA
should take the lead in lobbying Interpol with the USG
playing a supporting role in order to avoid criticism that
the effort is USG-led.


3. (C) The Ambassador praised AMIA Special Prosecutor
Alberto Nisman's handling of the AMIA investigation and asked
for FAV's observations on how the previous investigation was
mishandled. Czyzewski opined that the Swiss government did
not cooperate with Argentine authorities investigating
whether the Iranian government (GOI) used a Swiss bank
account to finance the terrorist attack. LEGATT deemed the
possibility as unlikely, pointing out that Iran has a
sophisticated intelligence service, and would not likely use
a financing mechanism that is so easily traceable. Czyzewski
noted that both the French and German governments had made
similar allegations that Iran financed terrorist activities
in their countries using a Swiss bank account. He noted that
the U.S. has a counterterrorism finance information sharing
agreement with Switzerland and asked whether or not the USG
could try to obtain information about the existence of such
an account under the agreement. LEGATT explained that the
agreement is bilateral in nature, and that the USG can not
ask for information on behalf of a third country. The
Ambassador noted that if the FAV had any additional concrete
information about the account, such as an account number or
bank name, the USG would be interested in pursuing the lead,
because it is an account that has allegedly been used to
finance a number of terrorist activities. FAV said it did
not have any additional information as the Swiss government

could not identify the account, and suggested contacting AMIA
Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman for additional information.
LEGATT agreed to do so.


4. (C) Ambassador praised Nisman's efforts to investigate
the AMIA bombing, and asked for FAV's opinion on how the case
was handled in the first investigation under Judge Galeano.
Czyzewski acknowledged that Nisman had conducted a good
investigation with USG assistance. He stated that Galeano,
on the other hand, was neither personally nor technically
prepared to investigate the AMIA bombing and committed many
mistakes. While he indicated that it is not clear whether
the Menem administration pressured Galeano to take certain
actions, he opined that it was more than likely. He noted
that there was also a lot of inter-agency fighting that
complicated the investigation. He further explained that
Galeano's decision to pay a witness for testimony is actually
permitted under Argentine law, so long as the payment is
drawn from a specific fund and noted in the case file.
Unfortunately, Galeano kept the payment secret, Czyzewski
stated.


5. (C) Another FAV representative stated that FAV has asked
Nisman to summon a Menem-era official (and Menem's
ex-brother-in-law),Amir Yoma (alternative spelling: Amir
Yoma),to look into the supposed suicide of his office
secretary, Lourdes Di Natale, who reportedly knew about the

SIPDIS
government's efforts to investigate the case and whose father
believes she was murdered. Another possible suspect is
Syrian national, and alleged arms dealer, Monzer Al Kazar
(alternative spelling: Al Kassar),who was able to obtain an
Argentine passport during the Menem era. Legatt discounted a
possible Syrian connection to the AMIA bombing, noting that
Hezbollah agents who carried out the attack, are financed by
Iran, not Syria. The Ambassador acknowledged that individual
Syrians may have facilitated the operations, but that it was
less likely that Syria or the Syrian-Argentine community was
involved in the attack. (Note: Al Kazar was arrested in
Spain in June in response to a USG extradition request.)


6. (C) The Ambassador then asked why there had not been any
progress on the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy.
Czyzewski opined that the GOA made a political decision not
to investigate the attack, as it considers the attack to be
one on Israel not on Argentina. Upon conclusion of the
meeting, Czyzewski invited the Ambassador to participate in a
ceremony on July 18 to commemorate the 13th anniversary of
the bombing. The Ambassador noted that he had planned to
attend the annual commemoration.
WAYNE