Binyamin Regional Council head and Yesha Council chairman Israel Ganz met this week with Argentine President Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada, the seat of Argentina’s government. The meeting was part of a diplomatic tour of South America that Ganz is conducting to forge new partnerships abroad, broaden support for the West Bank, and enlist partners in the fight against boycotts and sanctions targeting the settlements.
In June, the UK, alongside Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and Norway, announced coordinated sanctions against networks accused of financing and carrying out settler violence, with Britain targeting six entities and one individual.
During their conversation, Ganz linked the issue of the Malvinas Islands, the Argentine name for what the British call the Falkland Islands, to sanctions on settlements in the West Bank. Argentina claims sovereignty over the British-controlled islands and has long demanded their return.
“Britain must be cut down to size. The days of the White Paper and British imperialism are over,” Ganz said, in reference to the 1939 British White Paper that restricted Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. “It cannot be that European countries continue to lord it over other countries, trying to dictate their future and control their sovereign territory, in Israel, in Argentina and elsewhere.
“Britain must end the occupation of the Malvinas Islands and also cancel the shameful sanctions on Judea and Samaria,” he continued, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
The meeting was arranged by Rabbi Richard Kaufman, a personal friend of the president. It lasted an hour, and Ganz’s associates described it as very warm and productive. It was the pair’s third meeting, following encounters at various conferences, and the first held in this format at the Casa Rosada. The two agreed to significantly strengthen their ties, and Ganz invited Milei on a state visit to Binyamin and the West Bank.
‘A historic meeting’
Speaking outside the Casa Rosada after the meeting, Ganz said: “I am coming out of a historic meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei, a true friend of the State of Israel and a dear friend. I thank him for the warm welcome and for his courageous stand alongside Israel and the Jewish people. I came to him with a clear request: to recognize Judea and Samaria as part of the Land of Israel and to stand against the boycott and sanctions on the settlements.
“From here, I call on the countries of the world: Recognize the right of the State of Israel to Judea and Samaria, the cradle of our forefathers and the future of our state,” he added. “The Jewish people are not foreigners in Binyamin, Judea and Samaria. This is our homeland, and no sanction will erase this bond. Against the boycott we will open markets, against the sanctions we will recruit partners, and we will continue to build and grow.”