Today marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Iran-backed Hizballah bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We honor the memory of the 85 Argentines – Jews and non-Jews – killed in the attack and recall the scores who were injured. We also remember the five Israelis and a Bulgarian national killed 12 years ago today in another Hizballah bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. We are committed to holding the perpetrators of these vicious attacks to account.
Until the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 last year, the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center had been the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Today’s somber commemoration comes in the midst of an alarming surge in global antisemitism. Since the October 7 attacks, we have seen a dramatic increase in violent incidents and hateful discourse against Jews and Jewish communal institutions and businesses in many countries, including in the United States, just as we have seen a dramatic increase in Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims. We condemn all manifestations of antisemitism and other forms of hatred and urge all governments to unequivocally do so as well.
Yesterday in Buenos Aires, on the eve of the anniversary of the AMIA bombing, the United States joined more than 30 countries in launching the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. The United States is pleased to play a leadership role, together with the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Government of Argentina, and other governments and international bodies in advancing these guidelines and we invite others across the international community to endorse and implement them. The Guidelines identify practical actions that governments, international bodies, civil society organizations, and people of conscience everywhere can take against antisemitism wherever and whenever it occurs.
