Biblical scholars will tell you that a miracle is a perfectly normal act of nature, which happens at an opportune time—it’s all in the timing. And so, for Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the death of Jewish federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman Sunday was a major miracle. Because Nisman was about to prove that she and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman had collaborated with Iran and Hezbollah to erase the memory of the 1994 attack on MIMA (Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association), the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. That attack killed 85 Jews and non-Jews, and wounded many hundreds.
Is anyone buying the government’s side of the story, namely that Nisman, on the eve of his shining moment, the culmination of his ten years of diligent investigation, suddenly became depressed enough to shoot himself in the head?
That’s what officials in Kirchner’s government were actually saying. Security Minister Sergio Berni said evidence at the scene, including a .22-caliber pistol and spent cartridge found near Nisman’s body, suggested suicide. Autopsy results said Nisman had died of a bullet wound to the head, almost certainly shot from a Bersa pistol that was found next to his body.
Congresswoman Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann told the AP she was going to accompany Nisman on Monday from his apartment to his committee testimony.
“Everybody who had contact with him the last 24 hours says he was confident about his testimony,” she said. “There is no indication, under any circumstances, that he killed himself.”
The leader of the opposition party Civic Coalition Congresswoman Elisa Carrió, called Nisman’s death “an assassination.” She said, “Everything is far more sordid than it appears. They killed him or they induced his death.”
Who are “they”?
Nisman was appointed 10 years ago by the current president’s late husband, President Nestor Kirchner, to pick up the then dead-ended investigation into the bombing of MIMA in Buenos Aires.
The Miami Herald today cites Joseph Humire, executive director of a Washington, D.C. think tank, who was supposed to testify with prosecutor Nisman before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee in July 2013. Humire says Nisman pulled out at the last minute, ” because of threats from the Argentine government” that he would be fired if he testified.
Also in 2013, Argentina and Iran agreed to investigate the 1994 attack together, which was tantamount to letting the cat investigate the bowl of cream. Jewish officials at the time were convinced the purpose of the “joint investigation” was to torpedo whatever findings Nisman were to come up with.
Last week, Nisman asked a judge to summon President Kirchner and Foreign Minister Timerman for questioning regarding the case, saying: “The president and her foreign minister took the criminal decision to fabricate Iran’s innocence to sate Argentina’s commercial, political and geopolitical interests.”
So, is there anyone left in Argentina or anywhere else on the planet who doesn’t know who killed Nisman?
The Israeli foreign ministry released the statement: “The State of Israel voices hope that Argentine authorities will continue with Nisman’s activities and make every effort to exact justice on those responsible for the terrorist attacks in Argentina.”
Julio Schlosser, head of DAIA Delegation of Argentine-Israeli Associations, said Nisman was the latest victim of the 1994 bombing: “The bomb at AMIA has exploded again today.”
In a press release, Schlosser warned against the death of prosecutor Nisman becoming the death of the probe.
AMIA Jewish Community center director Leonardo Jmelnitzky told the Jewish News Agency about Nisman: “He had worked for ten years in the cause. It is irreplaceable. The consequences of the prosecutor’s death are not those of the death of any person. It is very difficult to find someone who can get to know the case as he did.”
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, wrote:
“Mr. Nisman’s death is another tragic episode in the sordid saga of Argentina’s failure to act decisively and unceasingly to find, arrest and prosecute those responsible for the AMIA terror attack… The timing and circumstances of Mr. Nisman’s death, coming just days after he released detailed allegations of high-level government attempts to evade his investigation and hours before he was scheduled to present additional details to members of the Argentine Congress, raise serious questions about whether Mr. Nisman’s death was related to his work on the AMIA bombing.”
Like we said, it all sounds just so miraculous.