Jewish communities hail thwarting of Iran terror plot

Argentinian, US Jews express gratitude to US security forces for averting alleged Israeli embassy attacks in their countries.

By GIL STERN STERN SHEFLER
Hoenlein 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Hoenlein 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Jewish communities in the US and Argentina on Wednesday congratulated law enforcement officials in Washington D.C. who earlier announced the foiling of a terror plot targeting the Israeli embassies in their respective countries.
Jewish groups in the US said the suspected conspiracy by two Iranian men to kill the Saudi ambassador and blow up the Israeli embassy in Washington was consistent with the violence espoused by the Islamic Republic.
 “We have long expressed concern about the ties between international terrorist networks and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which gave direction to this plot through its Al-Quds Brigades," said Richard Stone and Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations.  "The target was the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, although it appears that other targets may have been designated as well.”
The American Jewish Committee expressed gratitude to US security services for averting the said attack on Washington.
 
"The Iranian regime’s terror arm reaches far, demanding constant vigilance,” said its Executive Director David Harris. “Thankfully, our intelligence and law enforcement agencies prevented a terror disaster in our nation’s capital.”
News of the arrests came shortly after and were overshadowed by the stunning announcement that Israel and Hamas had agreed on a prisoner swap that would free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in return for the release of hundreds of jailed Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Jewish organizations in Latin America reacted to news of arrests in the US who also conspired to carry out an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in an attempted repeat of a bombing that took place there almost 20 years ago.
"In Argentina we have learned of the seriousness of the Iranian threat," said Claudio Epelman of the Latin American Jewish Congress. "First, in 1992, an attack destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and took the lives of 29 people. Two years later, a car bomb blew up the Jewish Community Center, AMIA, killing another 85 people. For this latest attack, the Argentinean Justice, with Interpol's support, has ordered the arrest of seven former Iranian officials and a Lebanese member of Hezbollah, accused of being the masterminds of the terrorist attack. However, the Iranian government has consistently refused to cooperate and even protected the accused."
He added: "Today, we believe that the international community must take every possible measures to cooperate in protecting the world from this global threat still lurking."