MILEI AND ISRAEL: WHEN FOREIGN POLICY BECOMES PERSONAL
From Jerusalem to lithium, AI and the Falklands: how far does Milei’s alliance with Israel go?
There is something unusual happening in Argentine foreign policy.
Governments have allies. Governments sign trade agreements. Governments cooperate on intelligence, technology and defence.
But Javier Milei’s relationship with Israel has moved beyond the vocabulary normally used to describe bilateral diplomacy.
In April 2026, standing alongside Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Milei described the relationship between Argentina and Israel as a “moral, spiritual and political union.”
That is an extraordinary formulation for a head of state.
And it deserves considerably more examination than either the enthusiastic applause of Milei’s supporters or the reflexive criticism of his opponents.
Because behind the symbolism there is now substance: security cooperation, artificial intelligence, technology, trade, investment, aviation, diplomacy, counterterrorism and strategic coordination.
And then there are natural resources.
Lithium.
Water.
Energy.
And, in a fascinating geopolitical contradiction, oil around the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.
The Milei–Israel relationship is therefore no longer merely an ideological curiosity.
It has become a legitimate economic and geopolitical question.
From affinity to state policy
Milei’s affinity with Judaism and Israel predates his presidency.
His public interest in Jewish thought, his relationship with Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish and his visits to Jewish religious institutions have been extensively documented. That personal dimension matters because it helps explain why Israel occupies a place in Milei’s worldview that cannot be understood simply through Argentine trade statistics.
But there is an important distinction.
Judaism, Argentina’s Jewish community, the State of Israel and Israeli commercial interests are four different things.
Conflating them would be analytically lazy and historically dangerous.