“Argentina is a friend of Israel,” Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, Argentina’s ambassador to Israel, said at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference on Tuesday.
The rabbi spoke fondly of the Jewish state, calling it a “light in the region.” He said that while Israel does not have many allies, “it has a few and Argentina is one of them.”
Wahnish drew parallels between the two nations, saying that both are “a model and a light in a very dark place” and “terrorism, dictatorships, and nondemocratic countries surround both.”
Because of these similarities, Wahnish said, there is an importance to continuing to develop the ties between Buenos Aires and Jerusalem.
“Argentina has a lot of human and natural resources like gas, oil, and agriculture. Israel is like a big head without a body, because Israel has innovation and technology, but not much land,” he said.
As such, Wahnish said, the Jewish state and its Israeli companies are encouraged to start investing in Argentina to solidify bilateral cooperation.
He brought up the recent signing of the memorandum of understanding between the two in June, when Argentine President Javier Milei and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed commitment to the fight against terrorism and antisemitism.
The signing was a significant step in support for Israel, Wahnish said, adding that his nation was planning a new project to create a specific office of antisemitism as well.
Argentina standing with Israel, Wahnish says
“Argentina is 100% supporting Israel in all the votes at the UN, even though it is not so good geopolitically for Argentina to do so,” he said.
“But President Milei once told me: ‘I want to stand on the right side of history, despite the political [repercussions].’”
“Milei believes that political and economic matters are branches and reflections of moral values,” Wahnish said. “He saw in the Torah the Jewish and moral values for all political and economic things. And he saw that Israel is fighting the world, the war of the whole world. Israel is defending democracy and freedom.”