Javier Milei's agenda in Israel is not far from that of other presidents who have visited the country: landing in Tel Aviv, face to face with his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and visit to the Western Wall. A classic route that, however, in his shoes is being unusual. In just two days, the far-right Argentine leader has given Israel an embassy in Jerusalem, in line with his historic discourse and devotion.
“It has not been another visit by a president,” Dani Dayan, director of the Holocaust Museum, summed up this Wednesday with affection, after guiding Milei through the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime during the Second War. World, to urge him to fan the well-known “perpetual flame” and to place a stone on the memory of the ashes “of the martyrs”, in the style of Jewish offerings. “You are raising Argentina's commitment to the Jewish people,” thanked Dayan, an Israeli of Argentine origin.
The people in Israel barely recognize him as “the guy with the big hair,” who is thinking about converting to Judaism and “loves” the Jewish state. But for the Argentines who support him, traveling to Israel in the midst of the bombings in Gaza and being the first Latin American leader to do so after the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, is to position Argentina on the international board, along with countries that are “on the right side.”
That was the greatest message that Milei conveyed at the Holocaust Museum, in which he used a story from the Talmud to ask for the release of the 136 hostages – 9 Argentine – and equate Hamas with “modern Nazism”, without mentioning Palestinian civilians. “Looking at the dark images of the Holocaust, I wonder where the free world was back then. And today I ask myself the same question again: where is the voice of the free world demanding the release of those kidnapped more than a hundred days ago?
In his delivery, in addition to moving the diplomatic headquarters to “West Jerusalem” – which means accepting the conflictive position of recognizing the Holy City as the capital of Israel – Milei promised to send two bills to Congress to declare Hamas “an organization terrorist” and ask for the return of the hostages, whose faces can be seen at the Buenos Aires international airport.
For this reason, Netanyahu did not hesitate to baptize Milei as a “great friend of the Jewish State” during their previous meeting. A meeting that Milei attended with a pin that had the flags of Argentina and Israel twinned and a yellow ribbon, a symbol of the demand for the release of the hostages that the Israeli premier was not even wearing.
Determined not to leave any boxes unchecked, the Argentine president also planted a tree in the Forest of Nations, fulfilling a Jewish tradition that involves strengthening his roots in Jerusalem, and toured the Old City. That is before facing a Thursday focused on the consequences of 7-O, which will include a visit to the Nir Oz kibbutz, attacked by Hamas, and a meeting with relatives of hostages.
