Why does Miley want to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem?

(CNN Spanish) — Xavier Miley, with his mouth open, clings to the hands of his captors to maintain balance. He is in the saddle of a man who jumps in celebration with others who surround him with equal enthusiasm, while he smiles and sings in chorus with the others “Jai Israel”, a Jewish prayer whose Meaning in Spanish is “the people of Israel live.” ,

The vertical video of the Argentine president is one of the last images left during the president’s three-day visit to Israel. Miley is at the Wailing Wall with a group of religious people. He is wearing his classic black leather coat and a kippah on his head.

During his stay in Israel, Miley did not avoid speaking about the war between this country and Hamas. In fact, he did just the opposite. And he did not call for a ceasefire like other international leaders, but expressed his support for “the legitimate defense of Israel”.

Additionally, he referred to Hamas as “the expression of Nazism in the 21st century” and reiterated his intentions to place the Islamist group on the list of groups recognized as terrorists and to move the Argentine embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Whatever it is has already been done. Had promised during the election campaign.

There was a subsequent reaction from Hamas, which rejected the measure in a statement. Hamas said, “We strongly condemn and condemn the announcement by the President of Argentina of the intention of the Nazi-Zionist entity (Israel) to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.”

For his part, Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the Argentine President’s intentions. According to official information from the Israeli government, the Prime Minister thanked for the support. “President Miley, I am delighted to welcome you and your delegation to Israel. You are a great friend of the Jewish state. “We are pleased with their decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move their diplomatic post and of course an embassy there,” he said.

Xavier Miley at the Western Wall, February 6, 2024. (Credit: Ronaldo Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Only five countries in the world have an embassy in Jerusalem: Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea and the United States, which moved its diplomatic headquarters under former President Donald Trump in 2017.

Although Israel declares Jerusalem its capital, it is an area under dispute with the Palestinian people and with the exceptions above, all international embassies are located in Tel Aviv.

What are Miley’s intentions?

“The visit to Israel is part of his ideological diplomacy,” political analyst Marcos Novarro told CNN. “He did this with his principled speech at Davos and now because, as many in other right-wing sectors believe, the wars in Israel and Ukraine represent the vanguard of the West.”

On December 10, 2023, the day of the inauguration of the President of Argentina, Juan Gabriel Tocatlán, Doctor of International Relations and Professor at the University of Torquato de Tella, explained in an article published in the newspaper Clarín that, “Being a member of La Libertad Avanza As a candidate, Miley presented a combination of ultra-Westernism, anti-communism, disdain for multilateralism, and strong individualism. However, this left a question as to what its international policy would be.

In this sense, Novarro believes that, although Miley influences international politics as a “priest of the far right”, this represents a contrast with the policy that is made by the government itself. “In the hands of Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, professional diplomacy adopts a much more pragmatic policy,” he stressed.

As Novarro says, Miley and a portion of the government have already tempered some of his anger and campaign promises. In this sense, the now Argentine President, who addressed Pope Francis in disparaging terms during the campaign and placed himself on the opposite side of China and Brazil, reduced the tone of these confrontations after his electoral victory.

Apart from the exchange of letters with Xi Jinping, there were no rifts in trade relations with Brazil or China. However it is worth remembering that former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attended the inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires on December 10.

Novarro concluded, “Miley aspires to play a global role and be a global benchmark.”