Passion, Politics and Identity: Jewish Women in the Wake of the AMIA Bombing in Argentina

Publication Date: January 2005

Publisher: Hadassah-Brandeis Institute

Author(s): Beatriz Gurevich

Research Area: Culture and religion; Politics; Population and demographics; Social conditions

Keywords: Tolerance; Communal organization; Anti-semitism; Political Behavior

Type: Report

Coverage: Argentina

Abstract:

Transnational state-sponsored terrorism began in Argentina with the embassy bombing in 1992 which killed twenty-two people, followed in July 1994 by a second attack in which the AMIA building was destroyed and 85 people were killed. In both attacks, all investigative leads pointed to Hezbollah as well as to Iran and Syria, with the help of a "local connection". After the second attack, three separate organizations arose within the Jewish community: Memoria Activa, Familiars y Amigos de las Victimas and APEMIA.

This study documents and analyzes the conflicts that led to the creation of these three organizations. The differences in their ideologies and behaviors will be explained, and their opposing perceptions of the pace of the investigation and their differing assessment of the performance of both the Argentine government and the Jewish leadership of the AMIA and DAIA will be presented.

This paper also focuses on the various roles women played in each of the organizations, as well as within AMIA and DAIA, and it looks at the reconstruction of women's identities after trauma.