A Brookline rabbi called for justice Sunday on behalf of her mother and other victims of the 1994 terrorist attack on a Jewish community center in Argentina, a cause that has grown urgent recently with the mysterious death of the lead investigator into the bombing.
Rabbi Claudia Kreiman of Temple Beth Zion spoke in a brief video to 120 people gathered at Boston University for a forum called Stand for Justice sponsored by the Argentinean Jewish Relief Committee of Greater Boston.
Kreiman’s mother, Susy Wolynski Kreiman, was killed in the attack while working at the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires helping the unemployed find jobs. She was 48.
In the first year after the bombing on July 18, 1994, which killed 85 people, Kreiman said she joined weekly demonstrations in front of the Argentine Supreme Court every Monday just before 10 a.m. — the time of the suicide bombing — to “scream, to yell for justice.’’
“I never imagined 20 years later we would be in the same place and same situation with no justice and no one held responsible for this tragedy,’’ she said.
Kreiman said the death in January of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was appointed 10 years ago to investigate the attack, has been painful. In the week before his death, Nisman made startling accusations that top government officials, including President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, had conspired with Iran to cover up responsibility for the bombing as part of a deal that would supply Iranian oil to Argentina. Nisman’s death, which occurred the day before he was scheduled to testify before lawmakers about his findings, is still under investigation.
“Part of me has lost hope that change is possible in Argentina. I am usually a very hopeful person,’’ Kreiman said.
Argentina’s Jewish community is Latin America’s largest with an estimated 250,000 people.
Claudia Lach, 55, of Lexington, left Argentina for Israel in 1978 after graduating from high school. She helped organize Sunday’s event to support Argentine people and demand justice for those killed more than 20 years ago and for Nisman.
“We want a clear and transparent investigation,’’ she said.
Liz Kowalczyk can be reached at kowalczyk@globe.com.