SAEDNEWS: In a groundbreaking interview, Claudio Lefschitz—former deputy to disgraced Argentine judge Juan José Galeano—has exposed shocking details about the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA).
Claudio Lefschitz, once a senior officer in Argentina’s intelligence agency SIDE, served as deputy to the now-disgraced Judge Juan José Galeano—the man initially in charge of the AMIA bombing investigation.
In 2002, Lefschitz leaked a damning video of Judge Galeano’s meeting with Carlos Telleldín, the suspect accused of providing the van used in the 1994 attack. The footage revealed Galeano offering Telleldín a $400,000 bribe in exchange for testifying that he sold the vehicle to Mohsen Rabbani, Iran’s cultural attaché in Buenos Aires, and falsely implicating local police officers in the bombing plot.
This explosive revelation rocked the Argentine legal system and ultimately led to Galeano’s dismissal and disbarment. In the aftermath, Lefschitz authored AMIA: Why the Investigation Failed, exposing deliberate manipulation of the case. In 2007, he was abducted and tortured—presumably by SIDE agents—and fled Argentina shortly thereafter.
In a recent interview, Lefschitz delivered damning new claims regarding the AMIA bombing.
“Now that almost 22 years have passed since the confidential investigation began,” he said, “I can speak truths never uttered before. One week before Cristina Kirchner left office, she wrote to Oscar Parrilli, the then-head of SIDE, regarding Federal Court No. 1, acknowledging the greatest cover-up. At that moment, the plaintiffs withdrew… The truth was never allowed to emerge. But with the trial near its conclusion, I feel free to reveal confidential aspects of the case.”
He also challenged SIDE’s notorious former counterintelligence chief: “If Jaime Stiuso wants to slander me, he can accuse me of lying—but not of revealing military or national security secrets.”
According to Lefschitz, Judge Galeano’s investigation was catastrophic from the start. Appointed to oversee the judicial process, Lefschitz soon discovered that the bombing had been orchestrated by rogue SIDE operatives. Specifically, Section 85—SIDE’s counterintelligence unit under Stiuso—played a central role.
“It’s incomprehensible that in a democratic nation, the AMIA bombing was directed from within our own intelligence services,” he remarked. “We must confront how this entire operation was conducted.”
He claimed to have withheld information for years while verifying facts through his investigative skills and access to intelligence. “Why didn’t I act sooner?” he anticipated critics asking. “Because I was investigating, compiling, and verifying intelligence.”
Lefschitz recalled his path to involvement: “I was originally a security police officer, active in anti-narcotics operations. I earned trust from the judiciary, but after drawing attention from a senior judicial figure, I was reassigned to assist with the AMIA case. I passed intelligence to a man named Palacios—likely the police chief at the time.”
He recounted that before Judge Galeano offered the bribe to Telleldín, Lefschitz had pressured Telleldín about the van's transfer. A document—known as the “Carbeni contract”—confirmed the handover, but the recipient’s name remained unknown. Telleldín did, however, know the buyer was a SIDE agent. “This is not fiction,” said Lefschitz. “It’s the truth.”
As the case unfolded, Lefschitz found that Galeano hoarded key documents, possibly to consolidate power. Facing opposition from both the judiciary and SIDE, Lefschitz decided to go public. In 2002, he brought the information to media magnate Grund Doma, head of Editorial Planeta, and openly disclosed everything.
When he raised these concerns with the head of SIDE, he was advised to contact DAIA, the Jewish umbrella organization in Argentina. But the central message remained: “All the claims against Iran are lies—fabricated from the beginning.”
He attributed the “Berro theory”—that Ibrahim Hussein Berro was the suicide bomber—to Sala Patria, an organization outside Argentina tasked with shaping the AMIA narrative. According to Lefschitz, this claim was introduced at a strategic moment by Rubén Beraja, former DAIA president, to deflect public scrutiny from Argentina’s own institutions.
“There is no evidence implicating Iranian officials,” Lefschitz insisted. He said he told prosecutor Alberto Nisman—the man who spearheaded Argentina’s case against Iran—that the wiretaps of the Iranian cultural attaché and embassy had produced nothing of value.
He continued: “If Stiuso was intercepting all Iranian communications before the bombing, without judicial warrants, and truly believed they were planning an attack, why didn’t he prevent it? Because there was nothing to prevent. The taps yielded no actionable intelligence.”
Lefschitz said SIDE recorded three tapes per day from wiretapping Iranian diplomats—thousands of hours in total—but none showed Iranian involvement.
“So why didn’t SIDE submit this to the judiciary? Because it didn’t prove anything.”
He exposed how SIDE bypassed judicial oversight to tap embassy phones, using direct requests to telecom providers. “This is savagery,” he said. “This entire investigation was manipulated, and now they want to hold a trial in absentia—it’s madness.”
He also claimed to have offered to present his findings to AMIA and DAIA officials, saying: “Use your computers, and I’ll prove it all without any aid. If I’m wrong, destroy me.” They never accepted.
He accused Nisman of deliberately validating false charges: “This isn’t just my opinion—Nisman knew those allegations against Iranian officials were fabricated. His evidence was weak.”
Most explosive was Lefschitz’s claim that even Stiuso allegedly hinted Mossad’s involvement in the AMIA bombing. These statements, he said, were relayed to him personally and should be taken seriously in understanding the broader geopolitical dimensions.
Lefschitz is preparing a new book detailing the AMIA affair and remains confident the case against Iran was fabricated from the outset.
“I’m ready to work on this—collaboratively, even. What I say is not emotion; it’s experience. When Soleimanpour [Iran’s ambassador to the UK] was arrested, the Argentine judiciary produced no evidence. He was released. I have no fear. I only want the truth to be revealed to the world.”
