The president of the DAIA and the mayor of Esteban Echeverría signed an agreement to combat discrimination

The president of the Delegation of Argentinian Israeli Associations (DAIA), Jorge Knoblovits, and the mayor of the Buenos Aires party of Esteban Echeverría, Fernando Gray signed an agreement on Friday with the aim of promoting actions related to the fight against anti-Semitism, discrimination and xenophobia.

Knoblovits and Gray met today at the institution's headquarters, located in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Both were accompanied by the Board of Directors of the entity.

In a joint effort between the Jewish association and the municipality of Esteban Echeverria, the purpose of this agreement is to promote initiatives aimed at strengthening interreligious dialogue, building a more democratic and plural society.

“I thank the authorities of the Association for receiving me, with whom we are united by deep ethical values and ideas linked to the construction of a more diverse society,” Gray said at the end of the meeting.

For his part, the president of the DAIA, Knoblovits, said: “It is a pleasure to receive the mayor and sign this agreement that will deepen relations between the local government and our institution, to continue exchanging actions related to the fight against any message of hate.”

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the Association, Alejandro Zuchowicki; the 1st Vice President, Marcos Cohen; the Executive Director, Victor Garelik and the Deputy Secretary of Government of the Municipality of Esteban Echeverría, Alejandro Bonomo.

Knoblovits, in turn, was one of the attendees yesterday at the central event for the 30th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli embassy.

At the beginning of the event, the names of each of the victims were read. Then Israel's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Gideon Sa'ar and Israel's Ambassador to Argentina, Galit Ronen, made a floral offering to the victims. So did representatives of politics and relatives of the victims, in addition to the head of AMIA, Ariel Eichbaum; and his DAIA counterpart, Knoblovits.

As had been announced, the central event to remember and honor the victims of the attack was also attended by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa, the head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta; the Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero; and the Minister of Justice of the Nation, Martín Soria, among others. Who is not part of the official activity is the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández, who anticipated that he would not attend.

The President was invited, but decided to confine himself to receiving officials from the Latin American Jewish Congress in the Casa Rosada. Martín Soria, Minister of Justice, will be in his place. On Friday he will receive Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

The one who closed the speeches was the deputy prime minister and minister of justice of Israel. “Being before you is very significant for me, it is a moment of union, Israel and Argentina share the pain of this terrible attack. We are two peoples united in memory of our victims,” Sa'ar said. “This was a terrorist attack against my country, against our embassy and our compatriots, however, it was also an attack on Argentina, a country where my father was born and grew up,” he explained.

“This horrendous attack has a clear author: Iran,” Sa'ar added. Iran committed this terrible terrorist attack through its representative, Hezbollah. We have a moral obligation to go after those who committed this despicable crime. These people have names and faces. We demand that they be brought to trial for their crimes against humanity.” “Argentina was the first country in Latin America to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, this is a concrete action in the fight against terrorism, it is a very important first step,” he added.

“How much longer will we have to wait for justice to be done?” , the minister said in his speech.

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