Jared Kushner pays tribute to AMIA bombing victims in Buenos Aires

On sidelines of G20, White House senior adviser visits rebuilt headquarters of Jewish center that was destroyed in deadly 1994 attack

By JTA 3 December 2018, 11:42 pm

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Senior Adviser to the President of the United States Jared Kushner, is pictured before being decorated with the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle by Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto in Buenos Aires, on November 30, 2018, in the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

BUENOS AIRES — White House senior adviser Jared Kushner paid tribute to the victims of the 1994 attack on the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish center.

Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of President Donald Trump, is part of the US delegation to the G20 summit. He went to the rebuilt headquarters of the building that houses the AMIA; the Jewish political umbrella DAIA; and the Argentina Zionist Organization.

The building was destroyed by a car bomb in a suicide attack, orchestrated by Iran and carried out by a Hezbollah recruit, that killed 85 and injured more than 200.

Kushner was received by AMIA President Agustin Zbar, who thanked the US for its commitment to the AMIA victims and the positions it has taken against Iran.

A man walks over the rubble after a bomb exploded at the Argentinian Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 1994. (AFP/Ali Burafi/File)

According to Argentina’s justice department, Iran and Hezbollah were behind both the AMIA attack and a previous bombing, in 1992, against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29.

Earlier this year, Argentina froze the assets of a suspected Hezbollah fundraising network. Suspected Hezbollah operative Assad Ahmad Barakat was subsequently arrested near Brazil’s border with Argentina and Paraguay.

Tres momentos de emoción compartida con Jared Kushner en AMIA: firma el libro de visitantes ilustres, enciende una vela y lee tehilim (salmos) por los caídos el 18J pic.twitter.com/zcXklQBJB3

— Agustin Zbar (@ZbarAgustin) December 2, 2018

The 13th meeting of the international forum of 20 countries took place this weekend in Buenos Aires — the first G20 summit to be hosted in South America.

The G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Israel is among the providers of cyber defense and cybersecurity to the meeting.