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Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, visits Lubavitcher rabbi’s grave to offer thanks for his surprise victory
(JTA) — For his first trip abroad since being elected president of Argentina last week, Javier Milei picked an auspicious destination: the tomb of the Lubavitcher rebbe in Queens, New York.
The site is a frequent pilgrimage location for Jews and others who believe there is special spiritual significance to prayers made at the burial place of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Milei is Catholic, but his admiration for and engagement with Judaism runs deep. He studies with a rabbi in Buenos Aires, has quoted Torah passages in rallies and walked out on stage for a campaign event to a recording of a shofar. He has said he wishes to convert to Judaism but does not see Shabbat observance as compatible with running his country.
He last visited the rabbi’s grave, known as the Ohel, in July during his campaign.
“I am going to be thankful because when I last visited this place, I asked for courage, wisdom and temperance: wisdom to separate good from bad, courage to choose good, temperance to maintain myself in the position I have,” Milei told the TV news channel LaNacion on Sunday night.
“Also to accept the will of the Creator,” he added. “The Creator put me in a place of maximum responsibility so I am going to thank and try to be up to the task.”
The trip to the grave was Milei’s second Jewish event since the far-right “anarcho-capitalist” was elected in a runoff Nov. 19. On Saturday night, he participated in a havdalah ceremony to mark the end of Shabbat in Once, a Jewish neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where he received blessings from the Kabbalistic rabbi David Hanania Pinto.
For his trip to New York, Milei traveled with a few members of his future cabinet, as well as Marc Stanley, the U.S. ambassador to Argentina, and Gerardo Werthein, an Argentinean Jewish businessman who is rumored to be in the running to become Argentina’s ambassador in Washington, D.C.
Another Argentinean Jewish businessman accompanied him to the rabbi’s grave. Eduardo Elsztain is chairman and chief executive of IRSA, Argentina’s largest real estate company, which manages the largest shopping malls in Buenos Aires. Elsztain, a protege of the Jewish financier George Soros, has also supported Chabad social programs and Jewish youth-related projects in Argentina.
Milei is scheduled to be inaugurated Dec. 10. He has said he wants his first international trip as president to be to Israel, where he has vowed to move Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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The post Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, visits Lubavitcher rabbi’s grave to offer thanks for his surprise victory appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.