Milley, who has a shallow political foundation, has been "digging too deep" on the topic of Israel, which lacks a sense of universal recognition, and is afraid that he will only get half the result.
Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo: Xinhua News Agency.
Text |Pottery short room.
According to the CCTV news client, Argentine Javier Milley arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel on the afternoon of February 6 local time to begin his visit to Israel.
According to the plan, Milley's visit to Israel will last three days, meeting with Israeli Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition to last month's whirlwind stop at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this is Milley's first official foreign trip since taking office.
Not the United States, but Israel.
On December 10 last year, Milley was sworn in for a four-year term at the parliament building in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. In January, Milley gave a controversial speech at the Davos Forum in Switzerland, in which he mentioned that "Europe is in danger" and "Western leaders are capitulating to collectivism", while also attacking feminism and left-wing ideology, but did not make any visits to any countries.
During his trip to Israel, in addition to meeting with Israeli leaders, Milley will also pay a visit to the "Western Wall," the holy site of Jerusalem Judaism, visit the Jewish collective farm near the Gaza border and the Jerusalem Memorial, and meet with the families of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
Although Milley was born into a Catholic family, he never hid his admiration for Judaism, studying the Torah (the Jewish text) under Argentine Jewish leaders, and even publicly declared that he was "a possible conversion to Judaism."
During the election campaign, Milley repeatedly referred to the United States and Israel as "Argentina's natural main allies and closest partners" and expressed "unreserved and absolute support" for Israel. Since the conflict in Gaza, Milley has not only condemned Hamas for terrorist attacks, but also "unreservedly supported" Israeli actions in Gaza. Its "degree of ironclad" surpasses even that of almost all of Israel's natural allies.
Milley's visit to Israel made him the first national leader in Latin America to visit Israel since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza. Netanyahu was even more overjoyed by his announcement that he would move the Argentine embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to disputed Jerusalem.
As early as during the election period, Milley repeatedly said that once elected, he would give priority to visiting Israel. Netanyahu, who is suffering from a lack of international partners, also values this distant ally in times of need, and sent an official invitation to visit him on the day of his inauguration.
Last November, just a week after his victory, Milley, who had not yet been inaugurated, made a symbolic gesture of paying homage to the late Jewish leader when he traveled to New York for a meeting. Just three days after taking office on December 12, he appeared in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires to personally light the menorah for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. On December 28, he appeared at the opening ceremony of the Jewish Games and gave a speech praising Israel and the Jewish people.
On January 26 of this year, while attending an event to commemorate the "International Day" at the Grand ** Museum in Buenos Aires, he officially stated for the first time that he "will visit Israel in a few weeks".
For this reason, when Milley announced that Israel was the first stop of his official foreign trip, there was not much surprise or surprise in Argentina and Latin America as a whole – after all, Milley even appointed his own Jewish teacher as Argentina's new ambassador to Israel.
However, Milley is known for his fanaticism, so why didn't he make the United States his first stop on his official foreign trip?
First of all, as an open supporter and imitator of Trump, there is a clear "color difference" between Milley and the current US **Biden. The latter has not yet formally extended an invitation to him to visit, and he may not be willing to take the suspicion of "giving the Democratic Party of the United States an election" to visit the United States at this time. Moreover, including the aforementioned one after being elected and before taking office, Milley will go to the United States three times in 2023, which has reached the level of "frequent visitors do not kill chickens", and there is no need to make it his first visit.
As is customary, when a head of state takes office, he usually visits his most important economic partner or neighboring country for the first time, but at the beginning of his tenure, Milley caused a major diplomatic crisis by publicly scolding Colombian Petro as a "communist".
As for the first partner, in addition to China, Brazil, the second largest partner, has a delicate relationship with Milley, and Lula of Brazil has long been tired of him. Milley repeatedly scolded Lula during the election, and the latter responded by refusing to attend his inauguration, while Milley simply invited Lula's nemesis, Brazil's predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, to his inauguration. Clearly, Brazil is unlikely to be Milley's preferred destination for his first visit.
Argentina's new Milai greets supporters at the inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 10, 2023. Photo: Xinhua News Agency.
Milley's considerations.
At present, Argentina's economic and financial situation is severe, and the social crisis and turmoil have become even more severe after Milley took office. Although the "reform package" submitted to the National Assembly was finally successful on December 3, 2023, the voices and actions of trade unions, local governments, social strata and interest groups to resist opposition are still very high.
Milley was elected in unity by virtue of his "Internet celebrity popularity" and right-wing election campaigns, with little political qualifications, and his party has few seats in Congress.
At the same time, due to the controversy over Milley's international image, since Milley took office, except for the support of the International Monetary Organization and the World Bank, he has not received much "real money" support in the world.
It's fair to say that Milley is facing a mountain of problems, and it seems that a visit to Israel and pleasing the Jews should not be given such a high priority. After all, out of Argentina's total population of 45.81 million, the total number of Jews is only 250,000. Moreover, there is a lack of complementarity between the economies of Israel and Argentina, and it is difficult for Argentina, as a major exporter of agricultural products, to gain access to the considerable business opportunities that it is so eager to obtain through its close relationship with Israel.
In this regard, Polcelli, a well-known Argentine scholar of international politics and professor of international relations at the University of Buenos Aires, believes that Milley's move is intended to "shape his public relations image as a banner of the alternative right at home and abroad", and for this reason he does not hesitate to "put his personal political ideals and even interest in Judaism above Argentine foreign policy interests."
Because in his view, it is more important to shape his own "international far-right leader", and he seems to be no longer satisfied with being called "Argentina's Trump", but eager to stand out from the crowd, and even catch up.
Other Latin American observers believe that Milley has long been "talking about the economy" and "engaging in politics" as a "poisonous tongue" and "traffic Internet celebrity", and is more familiar with "Internet celebrity punch-card diplomacy". The choice of Israel for this first visit was based on the consideration of "doing what you are good at, and leaving the rest to others".
Some observers pointed out that Milley's trip had the consideration of "pulling people to stand in line and huddle together for warmth". After his visit to Israel, his next stop is Italy, which is also ruled by the far right. This is clearly not just a passing or coincidence.
On February 5, 2024 local time, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, pro-Palestinian demonstrator **Argentina** Milley visited Israel and Jerusalem. Figure ic photo
It's hard to get a bargain.
However, many observers believe that Milley's visit to Israel will certainly be a relief to Israel, especially Netanyahu, but it may not be of much help to him himself, whose future is uncertain.
As mentioned earlier, the proportion of Jewish community and Jewish influence in Argentina**, social and financial circles is extremely limited, and the Jewish influence in Argentina is already the largest in Latin America.
While there is nothing wrong with denouncing Hamas terrorism, actions such as moving the embassy, paying homage to the "Western Wall" (East Jerusalem, which is widely considered by the international community to be part of the Palestinian zone), and "unreserved support" for Netanyahu are too radical and may not be enough to bargain for negligible.
Since the United Nations announced the 1947 Palestinian-Israeli partition plan, Argentina, whether military or democratically elected, left or right-wing, has followed a common position on the Palestinian-Israeli issue of supporting the "two-state solution" and sympathizing with the Palestinian people's claims.
Although Milley is an "Internet celebrity", his obsession with Israel and Judaism is one of the least agreed topics in Argentina, not only on the left, but also on many right-wing and even far-right. Milley, who has a shallow political foundation, has been excessively "digging deeply" on the topic of Israel, which lacks a sense of universal recognition, and is afraid that it will only achieve half the result with half the effort, or even be self-defeating.
Written by Tao Short Room (columnist).
Edited by Chi Daohua.
Proofreading by Jun Liu.