Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met with the families of the hostages and the president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei. Cohen congratulated Milei on his taking office and emphasized that the relations between the two countries will become deeper under his leadership.
Among the families that joined the meeting were members of the Bibas family, who are Argentinian citizens.
Argentina has the fifth largest Jewish community in the world, and it has likewise suffered terrorist attacks on its soil, including a Hezbollah attack against the Israeli embassy in 1992 in which 29 people were murdered.
Cohen and Milei discussed the latest developments in the war against Hamas, and Cohen emphasized that 'all the Western world must work to place all branches of Hamas outside the law and remove their sources of funding so that the horrors of October 7th, which were worse than ISIS, will not be repeated in Israel, Argentina, or any other country."
The meeting took place in Argentina. This is Cohen's second visit to Latin America, following his visits to Paraguay and Uruguay approximately four months ago.
"Argentina is a strategic country in South America, and under President Milei, our friendship will strengthen. I thanked the President for his firm stance on Israel's side in its struggle against terror, his intention to declare Hamas a terrorist organization, and his calls for the unconditional release of all hostages. I invited him to visit Israel and inaugurate the Argentinian embassy in Jerusalem, as the President himself promised to do in his speeches over the past few months," Cohen stated.
Milei commented: "I would like to emphasize our complete solidarity with the nation of Israel after the terrorist actions Hamas perpetrated. We condemn them fully and firmly. I fully support Israel's right to defend itself from those terrorist attacks. Additionally, we are considering declaring Hamas a terrorist organization in Argentina."