BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentinian President Javier Milei on Monday urged Latin American countries to strengthen continental ties with Israel as envisioned in the Isaac Accords, saying it was an existential fight between good and evil.
The public exhortation comes amid a historic shift across Latin America, where a right-wing wave is reshaping alliances with the United States and Israel, and the political left is on the retreat.
“From my first day as president, I made the firm decision to place Argentina on the right side of history,” said Milei during an address to Latin American legislators affiliated with the Israel Allies Foundation. “What this region decides in the coming years will determine which side of history we end up on,” he continued.
The Isaac Accords, launched by Milei and Israeli leaders in Jerusalem earlier this year, are a diplomatic initiative aimed at improving relations between Israel and Latin American countries, modeled on the 2020 Abraham Accords brokered by the United States between Israel and four Arab nations.
He called the accords “a moral, diplomatic and cultural coalition” against antisemitism, terrorism and drug trafficking.
In a forceful and impassioned keynote address to the pro-Israel lawmakers from over a dozen countries, the Argentine leader argued that evil can only be defeated by organized good.
“Words without actions are just words, and the region already had too many speeches and too much inaction,” he said in a characteristically unsubtle rebuke of decades of anti-Israel policies on the continent by predominantly left-wing governments. “We have prayed, lit candles and held hands, and all the while terrorism continued.”
The unabashed philo-semite broke with decades of Argentinian foreign policy by both left-wing and right-wing Argentinian governments since entering office in December 2023 by forming an unprecedented alliance with both the United States and Israel, emerging as one of the most outspoken wartime supporters of the Jewish state.
The Argentine leader became the first non-Jewish head of state to receive the Genesis Prize last year in recognition of his staunch support for Israel. He donated the $1 million award to launch the Isaac Accords initiative.
‘Latin America can take a clear stand,” he said. “Neutrality is not an option just as it never has been in existential struggles.”
