Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, took part on Monday in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Israeli embassy in Argentina, where 29 people were murdered in a suicide bombing in 1992.
The murderous attack took place on March 17, 1992, when a car bomb detonated near the entrance to the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. The attack killed 29 people, including four Foreign Ministry employees and four Jewish women. More than 220 people were wounded.
Family members of three Israeli diplomats who were murdered in the attack were invited to join Netanyahu on the trip to Argentina: Miri Ben Ze’ev - wife of Eli Ben Ze'ev, Ariel Carmon - son of Eliora Carmon, and Yedidya Zehavi - son of Zehava Zehavi. Argentine Vice President Gabriela Michetti and family members of locals who were murdered in the attack took part in Monday’s ceremony as well.
Prime Minister Netanyahu unveiled a memorial plaque on behalf of the Israeli government and said, "First of all, I would like to say thank you for this ceremony, and I know that it expresses President Macri’s commitment to fighting terrorism, fighting anti-Semitism, remembering the lessons of the past and doing everything so that such tragedies will not recur.”
"25 years ago, we all stood as one big family in the face of destruction and horror. I am certain that we all remember where we were at that moment, and I remember the awful impression left by the atrocities of inhuman terrorists, and how this act tore our hearts in Argentina and Israel and elsewhere in the world. There was a moment of profound partnership of fate, mutual identification with pain and tears,” Netanyahu continued.
“We will never forget the 29 people who were lost, the 29 victims of the attack. Men and women, Jews and non-Jews, Argentines and Israelis,” he stressed.
"As a member of a bereaved family, for 41 years, I tell you, the families who are here and those who came with me from Israel - we are brothers. Your pain is my pain, and I know that the wound is never healed. The scar remains, but we have the ability to support each other, and to ease the grief to the extent possible. I wish to express my condolences to all the families who lost a loved one or loved ones, and I wish a complete recovery to the wounded."
The Prime Minister also said that alongside memory, there is also a lesson that we must learn from the attack.
"The terror attack at the Israeli embassy building in Buenos Aires, just like the attack at the AMIA building two years later, taught us that we must not, under any circumstances, be deterred by the ongoing struggle against fanatical murderers.”
"We must stand firmly against them, with strength, determination, stand firm against the perpetrators and distributors of terrorism. Global terrorism has two main addresses. The terror of radical Shiite Islam led by Iran, and the terrorism of Sunni Islam, first under the leadership of Al-Qaeda and now under the leadership of ISIS. It was Iran who in the 1990s was behind the major terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires. Iran's terrorist octopus, from the Middle East, along with its proxy Hezbollah, continues to send arms to all parts of the world, and also to Latin America.”
"We are determined to fight Iran's terrorism, we are determined to prevent it from establishing itself near our border, and we are determined and fighting the second factor that spreads global terror in the world - ISIS. We are helping all the countries that are fighting it, and indeed many have joined this war and there are achievements, but there is also a problem. Because it turns out that the more this campaign against ISIS is successful, the more serious a problem is created: ISIS leaves - Iran enters. ISIS surrenders - Iran is taking over,” said Netanyahu, who added that it is the duty of all civilized countries to fight terror in general and Iran's terrorist attacks in particular.
“On this day, September 11, we stand alongside our brothers and sisters in the United States as well, standing in memory of the thousands of victims who were murdered in the terrible attack on the Twin Towers in Washington and Pennsylvania.”
"Buenos Aires, New York, Jerusalem, Paris, Barcelona, Brussels - no country is immune to the terror of radical Islam, and since the threat is shared, the solution must also be shared. We must face it together without fear, without hesitation. I believe that if we act in this way, the victory of civilized people over the representatives of barbarism will be assured,” Netanyahu stressed.
“Whoever harms us, we harm him. In a legal way, in the way of human beings, but terrorism will only win if we do not fight it. Let’s fight it, because the future all of us is at stake. We will forever preserve the memory of the victims of the attack, and we will be committed in their name to eradicate terror and bring life and hope for progress and peace for all of humanity,” he concluded.