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New Argentine President Lands in Israel With Pledge to Move Embassy to Jerusalem
Argentine President Javier Milei is greeted in Tel Aviv by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Photo: Reuters/Latin America News Agency
Argentina’s newly-elected President Javier Milei arrived in Israel on Tuesday for a three-day visit, bringing with him a pledge to move his country’s embassy in the Jewish state from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem alongside a commitment to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.
A populist outsider who won a surprise victory in Argentina’s Nov. 2023 presidential election, Milei has loudly advertised his support for Israel and his personal enthusiasm for the Jewish faith. Following his poll triumph, Milei appointed his Jewish spiritual adviser, Rabbi Axel Wahnish, as Argentina’s Ambassador in Tel Aviv.
Milei flew to Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv from Rome, where he met with Pope Francis. On arrival in Israel, he was greeted on the tarmac by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, ahead of a schedule that includes meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, as well as visits to the Western Wall and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Negev, where nearly 25 percent of residents were either murdered or kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 pogrom carried out by Hamas terrorists.
“You are a person of values who is committed only to the truth, and it is no wonder that you chose to come to Israel right away to support us in the just struggle for the defense of the Jewish people against the murderers of Hamas,” Katz told Milei.
Speaking on his flight from Rome to the Argentine news outlet Infobae, Milei said that his visit was the fulfillment of his promise to visit Israel on his first international trip since assuming office. He added that he was traveling to Israel to “express my support against the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas” and to deepen commercial ties between the two countries.
Officials traveling with Milei confirmed that the Argentine Embassy in Israel would be moved to Jerusalem without specifying a date. “It is a fact, as soon as the situation allows it, it will be done. There is the intention, but the date has not been set,” one adviser told the Clarín news outlet on Tuesday.
Milei is also pushing forward with plans to list Hamas on RePET — Argentina’s registry of organizations and person linked to acts of terrorism. As a deputy in the Argentine parliament during the former administration of President Alberto Fernández, Milei tried unsuccessfully to designate Hamas.
Milei’s unabashedly pro-Israel position has cast him as an outlier in Latin America, where several heads of state — including Lula da Silva in Brazil, Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and Gabriel Boric in Chile — have angrily condemned Israel for its military response to the Hamas atrocities.
The post New Argentine President Lands in Israel With Pledge to Move Embassy to Jerusalem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.