Prime Minister Netanyahu's Remarks at the event with President of Argentina Milei


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"This is the third visit of my friend, my chaver, Javier, in Jerusalem. But he's not merely a personal friend and someone who I deeply admire as a great leader, a great economic leader and a great world leader. It's also something of special significance, because this is the first time in Israel's history, in 78 years, that we award a foreign leader with the honor of lighting a torch on our Independence Day. It's never happened before, and it's right and just that it happens now with Javier Milei. Congratulations!

Under your leadership, Argentina has spoken with moral clarity. This is the foundation of leadership. Politics always involves compromises, but if you only compromise, or if you mostly compromise and you don't stand up for the things you believe are right, the conviction of what is right and what is wrong, what is just and what is unjust, what will move us forward and what will move us backward, if you don't stand up for the things you believe – why be in politics? It's boring and it's not very pleasant. It requires moral fiber and Javier Milei has enormous strength and enormous clarity, moral clarity. And I would say moral clarity is worthless without another human quality, which is courage. And President Milei has both in abundance and he has shown that by standing up with Israel, standing up with the Jewish people, standing up against antisemitic vilifications, standing up in our hour of need, standing up when we fight the battle of civilization against barbarism. He has been so clear, so forceful, so direct, so unflinching. I salute you, my friend. I think the free world should salute you. Freedom should salute you, free peoples everywhere.

We are at a time of great challenge and great consequence. We have been engaged with the United States in a battle against the great tyranny of Iran which terrorizes the world, which seeks our destruction and seeks to bring down the United States, seeks to bring down Western civilization as we know it. We have achieved enormous things. It's not over yet and any moment could bring us new developments. Javier Milei has that quality, every time he visits Israel. it's right before something very big happens. I don't know…No, I didn't tell him last time. I did not tell him last time, I give you my word. And I don't know what I can tell him now, because who knows what tomorrow or the day after tomorrow will bring? But I'm confident that with our moral clarity and our partnership, our great partnership with the United States, we shall achieve our objectives and bring more light and more hope for the free peoples of the world.

I have to say that we are also doing something else: we are opening direct flights. Now this, you know, you have brought our people closer, now we're bringing them even closer. We're not shortening the distance between Buenos Aires and Jerusalem but we're shortening the time of travel. So, we're shortening the time of travel but making our people a lot stronger. And I think that we just don't have better partners in the world than the United States of America and the great democracy of Argentina, and you have made it greater. You are taking it out of decades, decades of stagnation and you are lifting it up and the entire world speaks about what you have done in Argentina. I wish you the best. I know that our alliance is standing now before the best.

So, thank you, Javier, for everything that you have done. Know that you are now, since you are a Lubavitcher, you are now part of the mishpachah, part of our family, in the deepest sense of the word.

Thank you, my friend. Welcome to Jerusalem, you and your ministers."