Argentinian President Javier Milei arrived in Israel on Sunday for his third trip in two years since his election to the position, announcing alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that direct flights would begin between the two countries by the end of the year and that he would move the country’s embassy to Jerusalem.
During the meeting, Milei and Netanyahu also signed the Isaac Accords, a series of strategic deals on security and AI. The name of the accords is a reference to the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, that normalized ties with several Arab countries and aims to promote ties with countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Upon arriving in Jerusalem, the two greeted each other with a hug, then Netanyahu joked about how similar “Javier” and the Hebrew word for friend — “chaver” — sound. The pair both gave a thumbs up for photographers ahead of their meeting, as Netanyahu told his guest, “It warms my heart that you’re here.”
They were joined by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
In his remarks at the Isaac Accords signing ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu said that recent political changes in South America — likely referring to the election of right-wing, Western-friendly governments — mark a return of the “alliance of freedom.”
“It starts with the two of us and with the support that is always there from the US for free societies,” he said, expressing hope that the Abraham Accords model can be applied to Latin America.
“We had Abraham, and now we have Isaac. What will be the Jacob Accords?” the premier joked.
The Milei initiative will bring together “the descendants of Isaac and nations of the Judeo-Christian tradition, in defense of freedom and democracy, and in the fight against terrorism, antisemitism, and drug trafficking,” according to a joint written statement released later in the day.
Members of the accord will coordinate against “Iran’s attempts to expand its terrorist networks and operational presence across the Western Hemisphere,” the statement read. “The initiative also seeks to foster coordination and alignment in international forums and to promote a framework to expand cooperation in innovation, technology, trade, and economic openness.”
“Israel is now a leading technological power, and Argentina has the human capital and regulatory freedom to become the world’s next AI center,” Milei said in his address in Spanish at the signing ceremony, according to Channel 12 news. “We will develop joint models, train experts, and work together in international forums where the future of this technological revolution is determined.”
Milei called the launch of the accords “a historic moment for our nations.”
“It will not only strengthen the relationship between Argentina and Israel, united by shared values, but also represents a step toward a freer and more prosperous hemisphere,” he said.
“Argentina and Israel are brothers in pain since the terror attack on the embassy in Buenos Aires,” he added, referencing the deadly 1992 bombing on Israel’s embassy in Argentina, blamed on Iran.
“Today we are asking for justice, and will move the embassy to Jerusalem,” Milei said.
Earlier in the year, Argentina reportedly halted its plans to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, amid tensions between Netanyahu and Milei due to the Israeli-owned Navitas Petroleum company’s plans to carry out offshore drilling in the disputed Falkland Islands, expected to begin in 2028.
Argentina’s move would make it the eighth country to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, after the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Fiji, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay.
“I stand here alongside two of President Trump’s greatest allies,” US Ambassador Huckabee said. “I know of no leaders he respects more or with whom he has a closer personal bond.”
Milei and Netanyahu also announced direct flights would begin this year between the two countries. Milei said flights should begin in December. El Al Chairman Amikam Ben-Zvi confirmed the plans. Flights would take around 16 hours from Tel Aviv to Buenos Aires, and 15 hours to return.
“You have brought our people closer. Now we’re bringing them even closer,” Netanyahu said in remarks before the signing of the Isaac Accords.
Netanyahu called Milei a “personal friend and a great economic leader and great world leader” and noted that it was the first time a foreign leader had been granted the honor to light the torch at the annual state Independence Day ceremony on Tuesday evening.
“It’s never happened before, and it is right and just that it should happen now with Javier Milei,” he said.
Netanyahu also awarded Milei the Presidential Medal of Honor, which Regev boasted, “Money can’t buy this,” as she handed it to the prime minister, who handed it to Milei.
Milei is a libertarian and ardent defender of the policies of both Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.
Milei, who was raised in a Catholic family but studied Jewish scripture, has cheered the US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Upon his arrival in Israel on Sunday, he paid a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Last month, he called Israel a “strategic ally” of Argentina with “shared values.”
Milei’s government recently expelled Tehran’s diplomatic envoy, after Iran objected to Argentina calling the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.
Iran’s foreign ministry accused Argentina of being “partners in crimes committed and on the wrong side of history.”
Argentina, for its part, has lambasted Iran’s “persistent refusal” to cooperate with the probe into a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured more than 300 at a Jewish community center.
Two years earlier, an explosion at the Israeli embassy killed 29 and wounded 200.
Argentine courts have blamed both attacks on Iran, which has always denied involvement and refused to hand over suspects.
Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, composed of nearly 300,000 people living mostly in Buenos Aires.
