For Israel, Things Are Looking Up In Latin America

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, a Catholic fascinated by Judaism, who is said to study his weekly Torah portion, has made clear his deep affection for the Jewish state. He had planned to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, but that has been put on temporary hold while an Israeli company searches for oil in the waters near the Falkland Islands.

And there are other developments in Latin America that give Israelis hope for what they call a “blue wave,” an allusion to the Israeli flag. More on changes in attitudes toward the Jewish state can be found here.

Israel has much to offer the countries of Latin America, especially its advanced technology and its battle-tested weaponry, including its multi-layered anti-missile defense systems — the Arrow 3, David’s Sling, Iron Dome, and the dirt-cheap laser-based Iron Beam. Israel is also a world leader in water management, drip irrigation, solar energy, and cyber security.

The first phase of the Isaac Accords will focus on Uruguay, Panama, and Costa Rica, where potential projects in technology, security, and economic development are already taking shape as this framework seeks to deepen cooperation in innovation, commerce, and cultural exchange.

These three — Uruguay, Panama, and Costa Rica — are countries that have traditionally been pro-Israel, but have pulled away during the war in Gaza, urging it to be halted. But now, as that war, and the indignation over it, winds down, Israel sees a chance for it to renew those previous ties by offering the three countries help in security (battle-tested Israeli weapons), economic development, both through Israeli high-tech, and through its highly developed culture of constant innovation which has led the Jewish state to be called the “Start-Up Nation.” These countries are hungry for Israeli help in following a similar path.

Already Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay have moved their embassies in Israel to Jerusalem. Argentina has put on hold its planned relocation of its embassy because of an Israeli oil company conducting operations near the Falkland Islands that Argentina claims as its own, but once that contretemps has been dealt with, President Milei will likely proceed with the promised move. Israel is now hoping that Chile under pro-Israel President Kast will follow suit, and then Bolivia under its new, pro-Israel President Rodrigo Paz.

Now that Nicolás Maduro, virulently anti-Israel, has been deposed as president of Venezuela and is being held prisoner in the United States, it is likely that when elections are held later this year, the new president will be Nobel Prize for Peace winner, María Corina Machado, who has repeatedly expressed her support for the Jewish state. Venezuela will be transformed from an enemy to a friend of Jerusalem.

Argentina, Paraguay, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia, Chile are all now firmly in the pro-Israel camp, thanks largely to recent wins by center-right parties and political leaders who, like Argentina’s Javier Milei, are personally invested in good relations with the Jewish state. Three more countries in Latin America — Uruguay, Panama, and Costa Rica — are moving in the same direction. And finally, María Corina Machado, who will almost certainly win the presidency of Venezuela this year, will propel her country into the pro-Israel camp.