Shadow Over Argentina’s Army : Eight officers arrested as the possibility of an anti-Semitic cell arises

New developments in last year’s bombing of a Jewish cultural center in downtown Buenos Aires could lead investigators to a prompt and just resolution of the case--and not the one foreseen earlier.

Originally, authorities thought that Iranian-backed militants were responsible for the explosion that killed 95 and injured more than 200 at the headquarters of the Israeli Mutual Aid Assn. Now the finger may point to an anti-Semitic cell within Argentina’s army.

Last week, an eighth army officer was arrested after the federal judge who heads the investigation authorized raids at the Campo de Mayo army base outside Buenos Aires.

The arrests show a determination by the judiciary that deserves recognition. After all, it’s been five years since an explosion killed 29 at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and no one ever has been charged in that attack.

President Carlos Menem has said he has “abundant hopes” that the 1994 case will be solved. He should ensure that the judiciary is free of pressure that would keep it from fully pursuing every lead, for the new turn in this case may well cast a shadow over the military and, indeed, the entire nation. It is in Menem’s, and democracy’s, best interest to excise any fascistic cancer that may be growing within the armed forces.

Argentines must understand that their country’s record of laxity in denouncing anti-Semitism is notorious. They have been very good at decrying the dead Nazis to whom they once gave asylum; let’s now have the names of some living anti-Semitic terrorists.