JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday spoke with Argentine President-elect Javier Milei and thanked him for his intention to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem, Netanyahu’s office said.
Netanyahu congratulated Milei on his election win and thanked him for his support of Israel during the Gaza war.
“The prime minister thanked the president-elect for his intention to move the Argentina embassy to Jerusalem, and invited him to visit in Israel,” the statement said.
Milei’s team declined to comment on the matter on Monday, though the libertarian economist said during the campaign for last month’s election that he intended to move the country’s embassy to Jerusalem.
Only a handful of countries have their Israel embassies in Jerusalem, with most others maintaining diplomatic representation in the economic hub of Tel Aviv.
Milei, who says he intends to convert to Judaism, visited the tomb of a well-known orthodox Jewish rabbi during a recent trip to the United States. He has repeatedly said he will take a strongly pro-Israel stance on foreign policy.
While Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there, most of the world does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, believing its status should be resolved in negotiations.
Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of theirs to be in the city’s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Lucila Sigal in Buenos Aires; Editing by Howard Goller, Alison Williams and Christina Fincher)