Argentinian President Javier Milei has revealed plans to move his nation’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next year, and has signaled support for the increasingly besieged government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Now based in Herzliya, just outside Tel Aviv, Argentina’s embassy will relocate to “the city of west Jerusalem” in 2026, Milei announced with pride as he addressed Israel’s Knesset on Wednesday. He accused sections of the international community of being “manipulated by terrorists” and becoming perpetrators by making victims.
During his second visit as governor to Israel since his administration took office in 2023, Milei reaffirmed Argentina’s willingness to plead the case for the liberation of Israeli hostages in Gaza, among whom are four Argentinian citizens who were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
The president also singled out Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was recently arrested and deported by Israeli forces trying to breach Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza. Thunberg has been at the forefront in denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza as war crimes.
Milei responded, “[Thunberg] became a gun-for-hire to gain media exposure, stating that she was kidnapped when there are actually hostages held in subhuman conditions in Gaza,” per translations of his words provided by the Knesset.
As international pressure mounts regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, more than 55,000 Palestinians have died with over 20 months of fighting.
Milei initially committed to relocating the embassy when he visited in February 2024, which involved visiting the Western Wall, a holy religious site for Jews. Before Milei’s speech, Netanyahu stressed that “the city of Jerusalem will never be divided again.”
The status of Jerusalem is one of the most disputed issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel calls the whole city its capital, whereas Palestine wishes to make its capital the occupied east sector. Israel took over East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and went on to annex it in 1980, a move that has not been sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council. Most of the 96 diplomatic missions in Israel are thus found in the Tel Aviv region in order to keep peace talks simple.
Only six nations now have embassies in West Jerusalem—Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and the United States. In 2017, President Donald Trump stunned the world by officially declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel and relocating the U.S. embassy a year later, which outraged the Palestinians and outraged the international community. The Biden administration has also retained this status, with Washington still officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
