Islamist Terror Networks Remain the Top Security Threat to Latin America’s Jewish Communities

On August 16, Argentina’s Federal Police thwarted an Islamist terror plot reportedly linked to ISIS and the Taliban to murder Jews in Mendoza — the second such plot uncovered in Argentina this year.

Last November, Brazilian security services unfoiled a similar attack against the country’s Jewish community, which was planned by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy, Hezbollah.

While these plots were exposed in time to prevent mass murder, they sadly demonstrate that the Jewish communities in Latin America remain the target of both Sunni and Shiite Islamist terrorist networks that, until recently, appear to have operated with impunity.

Last month, I joined representatives of Jewish organizations from around the world in Buenos Aires to honor the victims of the 1994 bombing, which targeted the headquarters of the AMIA Jewish community center established in 1894. The attack, which was masterminded by Iran and its terror proxies, killed 85 people and injured more than 300, making it the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust, until it was tragically overtaken by October 7. 

The AMIA attack came two years after a similar attack, in which a Hezbollah suicide bomber drove a pickup truck into the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 23 and wounding 242. I have friends who survived this horrendous attack, and others that lost their loved ones.

Argentina’s Jewish community — the largest in Latin America — has yet to see justice served against the perpetrators of these crimes. 

The developments over the last week have provided a grim reminder that Islamist terror networks, whether backed by the Iranian regime or other state and non-state actors, remain one of the top security threats to Latin American countries and especially to their respective Jewish communities. 

The targeting of Argentina’s Jewish population, despite the country’s physical, political, and military remoteness from the Middle East, demonstrates once again that Islamists target Jews for being Jews, no matter where they are in the world, and no matter what is happening in the Middle East.

Indeed, in July 1994, the same month as the AMIA attack, Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), made a historic return to Gaza after the Palestinian Authority (PA) was granted limited self-rule in Gaza and Jericho — a key step in the unfolding Oslo Accords.

Then, as now, it seems that the prospect of peace inspires the cruelest outbursts of terrorist violence against Jews, no matter who or where we are. After all, as analysts have noted, Hamas reportedly planned and executed the October 7 attacks as a response to the success of the Abraham Accords, and out of the fear that Saudi Arabia might soon become a signatory and peace partner with Israel.

While the most recent plot in Mendoza appears to have come from a terror cell espousing ISIS and Taliban rhetoric, the main source of the threat against Latin American Jews remains the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terror proxy, Hezbollah.

What’s more, it seems that today’s threats stem from the activities of longstanding Hezbollah cells and networks that have since become more established and sophisticated. 

For example, Colombian police arrested Mahdy Akil Helbawi earlier this month, in coordination with the FBI. Helbawi is also designated by the US Treasury Department as an operative and financier for Hezbollah. Most notably, however, he is the son of Amer Akil Rada — a Hezbollah operative involved in both the bombings of the AMIA and the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.

Decades after the AMIA atrocity, money is still being funneled to Hezbollah from a range of activities, in Colombia and Venezuela, including drug trafficking.

Hezbollah has a long relationship with South American drug cartels, but they have also expanded into the use of cryptocurrency to more easily launder and transfer their funds. This in turn has helped Hezbollah to adapt and develop the ways in which they target Latin American Jewish communities.

For example, in Brazil, two Hezbollah operatives recruited from local Middle Eastern diaspora communities were able to hire six Brazilian nationals to conduct attacks on Jewish targets in Brasilia. The plot was foiled last November by Brazilian authorities, but demonstrated Hezbollah’s ability to rely on new methods and networks to terrorize Jews and non-Jews alike.

Terrorism is a threat not just to Jews, but to democratic societies all around the globe. It is for this reason that all world leaders who believe in peaceful coexistence must work together to eradicate extremism and fight terrorism.

These efforts should include taking harsher measures against countries that actively promote and support terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, and designations and sanctions targeting the entire network of individuals and entities that fund and facilitate terrorism.

In the ceremony of the 30th anniversary of the AMIA, Argentinian President Javier Millei said “Silence supports evil.” Our societies cannot afford another AMIA tragedy, nor another 9/11, nor another October 7, and therefore, silence is not an option. 

Marina Rosenberg is Senior Vice President for International Affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, and a former ambassador and diplomat.