Photo Credit: Javier Milei’s Facebook
Javier Milei during his presidential campaign, November 11, 2023.

Right-wing Libertarian Javier Gerardo Milei achieved a decisive victory late Sunday night in Argentina’s presidential election, having won 56 percent of the vote, with 87 percent of the votes counted; at that point, Economy Minister Sergio Massa conceded defeat to his opponent.

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Milei, a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in Buenos Aires and leader of the conservative-to-very-conservative La Libertad Avanza Party, ran with the “ultra-conservative” Victoria Villarruel as his running mate.

Milei, an economist, pledged during his campaign to carry out a complete overhaul of the country’s limping economy, including the possibility of replacing the peso with the US dollar.

Argentina’s Next President May Be a Right-Wing Libertarian and Jew Wannabe

Milei is a strong, unapologetic supporter of Israel and Ukraine. He has long defended Israel’s right to self-defense, unequivocally condemned radical Islamic terror, and shown even in his earliest days a love for Judaism and has in the past mulled conversion.

However, in a conversation last July with El País’s Martín Sivak, he explained the difficulty with such a decision.

“If you’re Jewish because your mother is Jewish, you’re not obliged to comply with the principles of Judaism. If you convert, you’re obliged to do so. If I’m president and it’s Shabbat, what do I do? Am I going to disconnect from the country from Friday to Saturday? There are some issues that would make [the religion] incompatible. The rabbi who helps me study says that I should read the Torah from the point of view of economic analysis,” he said.

In a separate conversation, Milei went into further detail about his connection to Judaism. “I don’t go to church; I go to synagogue,” he said in a televised interview. “I don’t follow a priest; I follow a rabbi. I learn Torah. I’m known internationally as a friend of Israel, and as someone who learns Torah, I’m almost Jewish. I’m just missing the ‘blood Covenant,’” he said.

Among Milei’s campaign promises was a vow to move Argentina’s Embassy in Israel to the nation’s capital, Jerusalem. He added that if elected, his first trip abroad will be to Israel.


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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.