Argentine President Javier Milei arrived in Israel on Saturday for his third visit since taking office in late 2023, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and reaffirming strong alignment with both Israel and the United States amid the ongoing regional conflict involving Iran. The visit, laden with symbolic gestures and concrete announcements, underscored Milei's self-positioning as one of Israel's closest international allies.
The two leaders greeted each other warmly — "Hello, my dear friend!" Milei declared upon arrival — before announcing a series of bilateral agreements. Among the most tangible was the launch of the first direct air route between Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv, to be operated by Israeli carrier El Al Airlines starting in November. They also signed what they called the "Isaac Accords," a document intended to extend the spirit of the Abraham Accords — the 2020 US-brokered normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab states — to Latin America. Milei described the accords as an effort to "strengthen diplomatic, commercial, cultural and strategic ties" while uniting against terrorism, antisemitism and drug trafficking.
Beyond the agreements, Milei's visit was rich in symbolic acts. Jerusalem's Chords Bridge was lit in the colours of Argentina's flag, and Milei visited the Western Wall wearing a kippah. He also participated in the pre-recorded torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl — an event that traditionally opens Israel's Independence Day commemorations — becoming the first foreign head of state to do so as Israel marks 78 years since its founding. He reiterated his promise to relocate Argentina's embassy to Jerusalem, saying it would happen "as soon as conditions allow," softening a previous pledge to do so by 2026. Jerusalem's status remains one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the United Nations granted the city international status in 1947, but Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and annexed it in 1980, a move never recognised by the international community.
Speaking to Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 ahead of the visit, Milei described Iran as "an enemy of the entire West" and praised both Donald Trump and Netanyahu as leaders "determined to put an end to this scourge on humanity." At the joint press conference, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he could think of "no other pair of world leaders on our planet" that Trump respected more or maintained a closer personal relationship with than Milei and Netanyahu.
The visit highlights a deepening ideological alignment among right-wing governments, but also the divisions it is opening elsewhere. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attending a progressive summit in Barcelona on the same day, held up a sign calling for the release of former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, who has been under house arrest since mid-2024. Milei's schedule continues Monday with a visit to Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, where he will receive an honorary doctorate, and to the Hebron Yeshiva, a prominent Jewish religious institution in Jerusalem.