At a meeting with the World Jewish Congress-Israel and the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) in Jerusalem, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri spoke of his cordial feelings toward Jews and the Jewish state.
Macri, who is a candidate in the forthcoming Argentine presidential elections, stressed the important contribution of Jews in Argentina. He emphasized his belief that Argentina had much to learn from Israel as a “start-up nation” and that “there are many opportunities for cooperation between our two countries.”
Macri expressed his commitment to trying to find the perpetrators of the attacks against the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Jewish community in 1994, but noted that “it will not be an easy task, as twenty years have passed.”
Responding to a question from the press regarding the recent abduction of three Israeli teenagers, Macri, who himself had been the victim of a kidnapping in 1991 and had been held in captivity for 14 days, declared: “It is the most perverse situation you can find yourself in.”
Recalling that his sister, too, had once been kidnapped, he went on to say: “I do not know if it is worse for the victim or the family. Unfortunately, I have experienced it from both sides. Israeli suffering has to be understood. From afar, it is easy to give advice but you have to be in Israel to really understand the situation.” Both Macri and his sister had been released after their father paid out millions of dollars in ransom.
At a meeting that Macri had with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the latter was “clearly not very happy” about the current circumstances of Israel’s relations with Argentina, especially in view of the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding that Argentina has signed with Iran over the 1994 AMIA bombing, according to the 'Jerusalem Post'.
Macri said he was committed to continue fighting terrorism and that his party had voted against signing the memorandum. If elected, he said, he will do everything possible to have it rescinded.
The Jerusalem-based Israel Council on Foreign Relations is devoted to the study and debate of foreign policy, with special emphasis on Israeli and Jewish concerns. The ICFR functions under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress.
