President Javier Milei landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Monday night, travelling immediately to the famous Wailing Wall – the holiest site in Judaism, located in the city of Jerusalem — where he prayed even before stopping at his hotel.
Milei create a furore of shouting when he was recognised by worshippers praying at the Kotel. Standing before them, speaking through a translator, he said: “Thank you for the warm and affectionate welcome. I will always support the people of Israel with all my heart, because this is also a just cause for the West.”
Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, and Mordechai Eliav, Director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, welcomed Argentina’s head of state and thanked him for his “defence of the State of Israel” and his close connection with Jewish people.
Milei recited a chapter from the Book of Psalms and said a special prayer for the return of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. At the end of his visit, he wrote “Freedom for Zion” in the visitors’ book, before heading to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, where he will be staying.
Upon arrival at the hotel, he was accompanied by his sister, Presidential Chief-of Karina Milei, as well as Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein and Argentina's Ambassador to Israel Rabbi Axel Wahnish.
Milei travelled to Israel from Nice in France. It is the latest leg of a 10-day foreign tour that also includes visits to Spain and Italy.
Over the course of the next three days, Milei is due to meet with top Israeli officials, including President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he will sign a memorandum of understanding “for democracy and freedom.”
Milei is expected on Wednesday to meet with relatives of the Argentine-Israeli citizens who were kidnapped by Hamas militants in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
He will also visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where he plans to reaffirm his strong support for Israel in the face of terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas and Hezbollah.
The La Libertad Avanza leader will also receive the so-called “Jewish Nobel Prize,” the Genesis Foundation Prize, during a special session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in recognition of his strong support for Israel on the global stage. He will be the first non-Jew and head of state to receive the honour.
Milei will also address the Knesset.
During his first official visit to Israel in February 2024, Milei and Herzog toured the streets and homes of Nir Oz, a town attacked by Hamas in the October 7 attacks. The Israeli president thanked him for having stated in his official speech that “acts of international terrorism should be treated legally the same as acts of state terrorism.”
– TIMES/NA
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