Several assailants entered the Buenos Aires home of Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich on Monday and beat him
An attack that badly injured Argentina’s chief rabbi has alarmed authorities in the South American nation and in Israel, raising concerns on Tuesday that it could have been prompted by antisemitism.
Several assailants entered the home of Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich in the traditionally Jewish Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Onceon Monday and beat him after shouting, “We know you are the rabbi of the AMIA,” referring to the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, one of the country’s most prominent Jewish groups, which reported details of the attack.
Davidovich, 62, has been the chief rabbi since 2013, working at the AMIA headquarters building that itself was the target of the country’s worst terrorist attack in 1994 – a bombing that killed 85 people and injured hundreds. Prosecutors have blamed the attack on officials of the Iranian government, which has denied involvement and refused to turn over suspects.
Argentina’s Jewish community – the fourth largest outside Israel and the United States – has good reason to be alarmed: successive Argentinian governments failed to resolve the AMIA bombing, and a number of former government officials – including former president Carlos Menem, a former judge and two former prosecutors are set to be sentenced on Thursday after being convicted of covering up leads and otherwise thwarting the investigation.
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Alberto Nisman, the special prosecutor who investigated the AMIA bombing after the original trial failed to produce results, was found dead from a gunshot wound in his bathroom in January 2015. Days earlier he had accused former president Cristina Kirchner of conspiring with Iran to deflect an investigation into the bombing.
Nisman’s allegations against Fernández remain unsubstantiated and his death remains equally unexplained, leaving it unclear whether he took his own life or fell victim to a political revenge killing.
Davidovich was in a hospital on Tuesday with several broken ribs and a punctured lung. The assailants also took money and some belongings, according to the AMIA.
Mauricio Macri sent a tweet repudiating the attack and vowing aid to find the attackers. The president’s human rights secretary, Claudio Avruj, said that Argentina needed to build a society “where there are no signs of antisemitism, and we cannot be indifferent”.
Reuven Rivlen phoned Davidovich “to find out how you are and to express my concern about the safety of the large Jewish community you lead”, according to a statement from the Israeli president’s office.
“The state of Israel will do everything necessary to protect Jews wherever they choose to live and will take any steps to protect us from danger. We will not allow those who seek our harm us to pursue us,” he added.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also expressed wishes for the rabbi’s recovery, saying, “We must not let antisemitism rear its head. I strongly condemn the recent acts of antisemitism and call on the international community to take action against it.”
• This article was amended on 27 February 2019. Argentina’s Jewish community is the fourth largest, not the largest, outside of Israel and the United States.