Argentina tightens borders after alleged bomb threat on Jewish community
The Security Ministry is currently investigating
By ABIGAIL ADLERThe Brener Synagogue in Moisés Ville, Argentina 370(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons / GNU Free / FLLL)
After receiving an anonymous tip about explosives entering the country ahead of a potential terrorist attack on the Jewish community, the government has asserted controls at Argentina's border crossing at with Paraguay, according to the Buenos Aires Times.The Security Ministry stated that it was investigating a complaint delivered to Argentina’s Embassy in the United Kingdom, which was notified about the alleged entry of “ammonium nitrate, a component used to manufacture explosives, by a person from the Republic of Paraguay.”The anonymous tipster reportedly claimed the material was to be used “for a bomb in Argentina with a Jewish objective” and warned the explosive material was to be moved from the Paraguayan city of Encarnación across the border to Posadas, Misiones Province.Authorities have launched a series of measures to identify those allegedly involved.The president of the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), Jorge Knoblovits, said that leaders had “already been informed and had knowledge" of the complaint."We watch over the safety of the Jewish community," Knoblovits told the Jewish News Agency.In addition, Knoblovits said that Security Minister Sabina Frederic had already stressed the government’s "willingness to increase protection” at Jewish locations.Argentina’s Jewish community has gone through two fatal attacks in the 1990s. In 1994, a bombing attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires left 85 dead and 300 injured, according to the Buenos Aires Times. That took place just two years after an earlier attack on the Israeli Embassy, also in Buenos Aires, which left 29 dead and 200 injured. The terrorists behind both attacks have not been brought to justice.Argentina has the largest Jewish community in South America, with some 300,000 members.
