Crypto Scams, Torah Readings, and NATO Dreams: Inside Milei’s Argentina

From the moment he took office in December 2023, Javier Milei has acted less like an Argentine president and more like Israel’s most obedient asset in Latin America. On the campaign trail, Milei positioned himself as an anti-establishment firebrand hell-bent on downsizing Argentina’s bloated bureaucracy and bringing the country back to its past glory.

However, a cursory history of politics has taught us that politicians will say many things while campaigning but completely abandon their principles once in office. For Milei, this has been the case with respect to his political priorities, which have been thoroughly pro-Jewish.

Shortly after his presidential victory, Milei appointed Rabbi Axel Wahnish, his spiritual advisor, as Argentina’s ambassador to Israel. In February 2024, Milei promised to move the Argentine embassy in Israel from Herzilaya to Jerusalem. Although such a move has not materialized thus far, Milei officially announced during his June 11, 2025 address to the Israeli Knesset that Argentina would move its embassy to West Jerusalem in 2026. This announcement was made during his second official visit to Israel as president, in a historic speech that marked the first time an Argentine president addressed the Israeli parliament.

After the bodies of the Bibas family (Argentine-Israelis who Hamas held hostage) were repatriated in the middle of February, Milei declared two days of national mourning. Milei later renamed a street in Buenos Aires, changing its name from “Palestine” to “Bibas Street.”

Milei is predominantly of Italian descent, with paternal roots in Calabria. On his mother’s side, he has both Croatian and Italian ancestry. However, Milei has appealed to the Jewish community by claiming to be partially Jewish. In April 2024, Milei revealed at a Miami synagogue that his grandfather discovered Jewish ancestry late in life, stating, “All the values I received from him came from Judaism.”

Milei’s fervent support for Israel earned him the Genesis Prize—often dubbed the “Jewish Nobel”—in recognition of his “unequivocal support of Israel.” There’s nothing spontaneous about Milei’s Zionist enthusiasm—it’s the natural result of his close ties to powerful Jewish benefactors. Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, who famously took his oath on a Torah scroll, has overseen the country’s growing alignment with NATO and its expanding strategic ties to Israel, particularly in areas like intelligence sharing and cybersecurity cooperation.

Milei’s presidential campaign and administration have enjoyed strong backing from prominent Jewish figures, including Sebastián Braun, a donor of Ashkenazi Jewish descent whose family later converted to Catholicism, and Julio Goldstein, an influential economic advisor. A committed philosemite, Milei reportedly begins cabinet meetings with Torah reflections and has vowed to formally convert to Judaism after his presidency.

Milei has also cultivated a close relationship with Eduardo Elsztain, Argentina’s largest real estate developer and one of the region’s most prominent Jewish businessmen. The relationship between Milei and Elsztain was facilitated by Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, Argentina’s Head Shliach (a representative of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement). According to a report by Anash.org, “Rabbi Grunblatt helped forge connections between Milei and important businessmen such as Eduardo Elsztain.” The Jewish magnate has been described as a “spiritual guide” for Milei.

Although Javier Milei brands himself as an anarcho-capitalist, Javier Milei’s economic reforms—deregulation, privatization, and spending cuts—closely mirrors the typical platform of pro-Zionist neoconservative politicians in the Anglosphere. His promotion of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency on social media added fuel to the fire, artificially pumping its price before a spectacular collapse. The resulting cryptocurrency scandal left more than 40,000 investors in the red and sparked calls for his impeachment alongside criminal fraud charges. The economic framework Milei is cultivating will likely function as a magnet for all manner of unscrupulous Jewish magnates looking to make a quick buck in Argentina.

In addition to being a an ardent supporter of the Jewish state, Milei has positioned himself as an aspiring lackey of the United States-led global security network. On April 17, 2025, Argentina requested to become a NATO global partner, signaling its willingness to become an appendage of the Judeo-American imperium.

In many ways, Milei is walking the same foreign policy path as former President Mauricio Macri (2015–2019), a conventional pro-U.S. conservative who in July 2019 designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. That announcement coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. Argentine authorities have linked the attack to Hezbollah and Iran.

Continuing this trajectory, on July 12, 2024, Milei officially designated Hamas as a terrorist group and froze its assets. His government cited the group’s October 2023 assault on Israel and its alleged ties to Iran, which Argentina also holds responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy and the AMIA attack.

All told, Milei is looking like the best Shabbos goy shekels could buy. If Israel’s long-term viability comes into question, Argentina’s growing alignment with Jewish interests makes it an increasingly plausible refuge. Javier Milei may masquerade as a libertarian crusader, but in practice, he’s laying the groundwork for Argentina to become a New Jerusalem in the Southern Cone.