Special to WorldTribune.com

Newly-elected Argentine President Maruicio Macri’s decision to cancel an agreement that could have absolved Iran of responsibility for a 1994 terror attack on a Jewish facility in Buenos Aires was praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Macri chose not to appeal a court ruling against Iran in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured hundreds.

Macri’s predecessor, Cristina Fernandez, intended to appeal the ruling, which could have let Teheran off the hook.

“This is a welcome change of direction, and I hope that we will see a significant improvement in Israeli-Argentine ties, as well as an improvement in ties with other South American countries in the coming years,” Netanyahu said on Dec. 13.

“For almost three years, the Argentine Jewish community, with the active support of the World Jewish Congress and our Latin American branch, the Latin American Jewish Congress, campaigned to have this deal rescinded. Today, our efforts have borne fruit. This flawed agreement with Iran should never have been signed in the first place, and we are glad that the new government has now canceled it,” said Robert Singer, CEO of the World Jewish Congress.

The Fernandez administration in 2013 had filed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would have created a joint “truth commission” made up of five independent judges from third-party countries to investigate the bombing, two chosen by each country and one agreed upon by both. It would also have allowed for Iranian suspects in the case to be questioned.

The MoU led to a steep decline in relations between Israel and Argentina, with a diplomatic source telling the Jerusalem Post in November that allowing Iran to have a role in investigating the bombing was akin to letting “the criminal investigate the crime.”

Teheran has denied any responsibility in the bombing and refuses to extradite its citizens. Argentine law forbids trying suspects in absentia.

Analysts say it is unclear how Argentina can prosecute the case as there is no apparent legal way to interview the Iranian suspects.

Macri met with Netanyahu in Israel last year and said he would like to see a “strategic alliance” between the two countries.

Macri’s election marked a “sea change and represents a shift in Latin America,” Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Post.

  1994 Buenos Aires bombing, Mauricio Macri, Netanyahu, New Argentine president opts to scrap Iran accord, WorldTribune.com