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Thirty-one years after the AMIA bombing, the lesson remains brutally clear: when terrorists are not prosecuted, they are emboldened. When hateful rhetoric is tolerated, violence follows. When antisemitism is qualified or grouped together with other forms of hate, the call to protect Jewish lives is cheapened. Words may not pull the trigger, but they load the gun.

When I arrived in Buenos Aires earlier this month to observe the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building, it was a ritual that had become all too familiar.

Justice delayed is justice denied. And for 30 years, the Jewish community in Argentina has been waiting for justice. At 9:53 a.m. on July 18, 1994, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the AMIA building — the hub for the Jewish community in Buenos Aires — killing 85 people and injuring more than 300.

While Israel is actively engaged in holding the October 7 perpetrators accountable, Argentina’s Jewish community and all of society are waiting for answers.

During his visit to Santiago, Chile earlier this month, AJC CEO David Harris met with the editors of La Palabra Israelita, the country’s national Jewish newspaper. The interview was published as Chileans went to the polls, electing Gabriel Boric as the next president. The issues David discussed included antisemitism in Chile and the region, the sizable Palestinian community in Chile, and challenges to relations between Chile and Israel and to U.S.-Chile ties.