The president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, reportedly intends to convert to Judaism.
“The president-elect intends to convert to Judaism, as per one of his spokespersons,” Bloomberg News reported. Milei has already stated he intends to move Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
When he arrived in the United States on Monday morning, before he even met with U.S. officials or the International Monetary Fund, Milei went straight to the grave of the late Chabad-Lubavitch leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson to pay his respects. Prior to leaving Argentina, on Saturday night, Milei joined Rabbi David Pinto Shlita — who gave him and his mother a blessing — in Buenos Aires for the Havdalah ceremony marking the end of the Jewish Sabbath.
“I celebrate this beautiful country, Argentina, and I ask God to protect the Argentine Nation so that it returns to what it was before. I am sure that with God’s help you will help the Nation and, with the people of Argentina, you will achieve it,” Pinto Shilta told Milei, who responded, “Thank you, thank you, Rabbi.” The rabbi told Milei’s sister, “We pray to God to protect him in everything he needs.”
Argentina has the largest Jewish population in South America, roughly 220,000 people. In 1992, the Israeli embassy in Argentina was bombed, killing 29 people and wounding more than 200 others. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Argentina stated that the terrorist organization Hezbollah was responsible for the bombing.
In 1994, a terrorist car bomber targeted the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires; 85 people were murdered and hundreds were injured. It was the deadliest terror attack in Argentinian history. In October 2006, Argentine prosecutors Alberto Nisman and Marcelo Mart ́ formally accused the Government of Iran of directing Hezbollah to carry out the AMIA bombing.
Milei visited Schneerson’s grave in July, where he visited the tomb of the Lubavitch rabbi and requested a blessing before the election that took place earlier this week. Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, was a tireless pioneer for Jewish outreach; there are currently over 1,400 Chabad-Lubavitch institutions in 35 countries on six continents.
“The truth is that I did not get to know the Rebbe personally, but just in the last year I had the privilege of visiting the Rebbe’s grave twice,” Milei, who amazed the world by winning the presidential election in a landslide, stated. “There I asked for his holy blessing to be elected president of Argentina and this blessing became a reality this week.”
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Milei, who has pledged that Argentina’s two key allies will be the United States and Israel, gave his first foreign press interview to the Hasidic newspaper, “Kfar Chabad.” He said, “From what I’ve learned about the history of the Jewish people, their survival against all odds, and the divine protection they’ve received, I’m certain they will continue to prevail. My message is to keep faith in God, stay strong and united. Eventually, the world will realize the enduring truth — the nation of Israel lives on!”