President Javier Milei will return to Jerusalem next month to receive an award dubbed “The Jewish Nobel Prize” and address lawmakers at the Knesset.
Milei, 54, will attend a special ceremony at the Israeli parliament on June 11, when he will be presented with the Genesis Prize.
Milei will receive the award from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF) President Stan Polovets, according to a press release, before delivering an address to Israeli lawmakers and dignitaries.
The prize comes with a cheque for US$1 million – though Milei has decided to forgo the cash, said the foundation, which vowed to launch a “major initiative” in “his honour.”
“President Milei was chosen as the winner of the Genesis Prize earlier this year for his unwavering support for Israel, including reversing decades of anti-Israel votes by Argentina at the United Nations, designating Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations, and reopening investigations into the AMIA and Israeli Embassy bombings in the 1990s,” said the Genesis Prize Foundation in a statement.
It also noted his reforms of Argentina’s economy, including the reduction of inflation and the “halting” of the peso’s “decline.”
“In honour of President Milei, our foundation will fund a variety of programmes to promote a positive image of Israel in the region and encourage other Latin American heads of state to develop closer ties with Israel,” said Polovets in the release.
Milei originally intended to travel to Israel to receive the award in March, but cancelled his trip as domestic political issues consumed his agenda.
He is expected to stop at the Vatican on his way to Israel for a meeting with Pope Leo XIV. The trip may also includes meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
Argentina's self-described "anarcho-capitalist" head of state is a fervent supporter of Israel and has realigned the nation’s foreign policy in support of the Middle Eastern country, the United States and "the forces of the West."
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.
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. He has not yet done so.
Milei said he was “honoured” to receive the Genesis Prize and expressed his “deep admiration for Israel, its history, its people, and its unyielding spirit.”
Previous winners of the award include former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Michael Douglas, sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and late US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
– TIMES
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