Argentina to Move Embassy to Jerusalem in 2026, Milei Tells Israeli Parliament
Argentinian President Javier Milei has announced that Argentina will relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by 2026, expressing solidarity with Israel amid growing international criticism of its Gaza offensive.
Speaking to the Israeli Knesset on Wednesday during his second visit to Israel since taking office in 2023, Milei declared:
“I am proud to announce that Argentina will move its embassy to the city of west Jerusalem.”
The current Argentinian embassy is situated in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. The proposed move signals strong support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly embattled government, which is facing global scrutiny over alleged war crimes and humanitarian violations in Gaza.
Milei added that Argentina “stands by [Israel] in these difficult days,” taking aim at what he described as international hypocrisy:
“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about a large part of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators.”
He also reiterated Argentina’s demand for the release of hostages held in Gaza, including four Argentinian nationals abducted during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.
Milei used his speech to criticize Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained and deported by Israeli forces earlier this week after joining a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
“[Thunberg] became a hired gun for a bit of media attention, claiming that she was kidnapped when there are really hostages in subhuman conditions in Gaza,” he said, according to a translation from Spanish provided by the Knesset.
Thunberg, a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, had joined the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in an attempt to challenge Israel’s naval blockade. Her deportation drew condemnation from rights groups and activists around the world.
The decision to move Argentina’s embassy touches on one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while Palestinians see East Jerusalem — occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed — as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The United Nations does not recognize Israel’s claim to East Jerusalem, and most countries maintain their embassies in or near Tel Aviv to avoid prejudicing the outcome of any future peace talks.
Currently, only a handful of nations — the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay — have embassies in West Jerusalem. U.S. President Donald Trump was the first world leader to break with diplomatic convention in 2017 by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move not reversed by the Biden administration.
Speaking before Milei’s address, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said,
“The city of Jerusalem will never be divided again.”
Milei had previously pledged to relocate the embassy during a visit in February 2024, when he also prayed at the Western Wall, a sacred Jewish site in Jerusalem.
With input from Al Jazeera and news agencies
