President Javier Milei will travel this month to Spain and Israel, where he hopes to ink a memorandum on security and defence collaboration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Argentina’s leader is also considering a brief trip to Santiago de Chile on March 11 to attend a conference, according to reports. Perfil said Wednesday that the event is organised by Vinci Compass, which describes itself as the “leading alternative investments and global solutions provider in Latin America."
Milei, 54, will depart Buenos Aires on March 20 for Spain, arriving the following day in Madrid. On March 23, he will land in Israel, where he intends to stay for at least four days.
According to local media, Milei will receive an award from the Fundación de los Viernes, a "non-partisan platform for the dissemination of liberal thinking and democracy," while in Madrid. The President’s team is also lining up a meeting with lawmakers in the Spanish capital.
Milei will not meet with any official from the government led by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with whom he has a poor relationship.
During his last trip to Spain, Milei accused the PSOE leader’s wife, Begoña Gómez, of being corrupt, sparking a diplomatic row that ended in the recalling of ambassadors.
The focal point of the trip will be Israel. As things currently stand, Milei will arrive in Tel Aviv on March 23, said Argentina’s Ambassador to Israel, Rabbi Axel Wahnish.
Argentina’s President – who is a staunch ally of the state of Israel – has also been invited to give a speech to the Knesset, the national parliament, added the envoy.
The trip will include a meeting with Netanyahu, who could welcome Milei personally in Tel Aviv.
Wahnish said the head of state will travel to Israel with his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, and Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein.
This will be Milei’s second visit to Israel since taking office in December 2023. His previous visit was in February 2024, a trip that included a bilateral meeting with Netanyahu and a visit to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem – a moment that moved the President to tears.
Collaboration
Argentina hopes to sign a “Memorandum of Freedom and Democracy” on cooperation in security and defence against terrorism, given the closeness between the two nations that has deepened since Milei took office in December 2023.
“There is a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement to move forward with projects of cooperation and collaboration in the areas of innovation, technology, defence and security,” said Wahnish in an interview this week with the Clarín newspaper.
In last weekend’s state of the nation address, marking the opening of congressional sessions, Milei vowed to show “no mercy” to terrorism and revealed his administration is working on a new national security.
“We are working on a national security law that provides tools to the national state, to our intelligence service and to our forces to pursue those who want to threaten the lives of Argentines,” Milei told the Legislative Assembly.
Last week, the President declared two days of mourning following the confirmed death of Israeli-Argentine children Ariel and Kfir Bibas, whose bodies were handed over to Israel 17 months after they were taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu followed that announcement by thanking Milei for his “unwavering integrity and outstanding leadership,” stating the move should “serve as an inspiration to all leaders of the civilised world.”
During his first year in office, Milei promised to move Argentina’s Embassy to Jerusalem, echoing in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump, who did so with his nation’s diplomatic outpost in 2018.
That vow has not yet come to fruition, though Wahnish has established his diplomatic residence in the city.
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