Argentine President Javier Milei used a hemispheric dialogue on Holocaust memory and antisemitism, held at Argentina's embassy in Washington, to argue that contemporary antisemitism is no longer merely a form of ancient hatred but "a weapon in the arsenal of the enemies of the Jewish state and of all of the West" — designed, in his words, to sow distrust within sovereign societies and to marginalize a Judaism that, he said, has embraced Western values.

The event was organized under Argentina's presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Attendees included U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, Foreign Affairs Minister Pablo Quirno, and IHRA President Marcelo Mindlin, along with members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Washington.

Milei repeated a statement he had made at the IHRA plenary opening in Buenos Aires in June: that the alliance "is only as strong as the political will of its members" and that "no organization can substitute what states are not willing to do for themselves."

Milei referred to the Hamas attack — which he described as carried out in alliance with the Iranian regime — as "the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust." He cited figures from the source directly: more than 1,200 people killed, including several Argentine nationals, and 251 taken hostage, of whom 21 held Argentine citizenship. He sharply criticized the international reaction, describing it as marked by "premature calls for dialogue with evil, justifications of barbarism, and pre-emptive condemnations of Israel's legitimate right to self-defense."

Milei also connected modern antisemitism to what he called an alliance between the radical left and Islamist terrorism, united by hatred of Western civilization. Citing a Talmudic wordplay linking the Hebrew words for "hatred" (siná) and Mount Sinai — the site of the Ten Commandments — he argued that combating antisemitism means defending the moral foundations of civilization itself.

Argentina's own experience with terrorist violence underpinned his remarks. Milei referenced the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 AMIA attack, which together claimed 114 lives, noting that justice in both cases remains outstanding. He closed by reaffirming Argentina's commitment never to turn its back on its citizens, regardless of their origin.

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