Javier Milei cites Hanukkah story, gives menorah to Zelensky during inauguration as Argentina’s pres

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

BY JUAN MELAMEDDECEMBER 10, 2023 2:40 PM

Argentina's Javier Milei hands a Hanukkah menorah to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky during Milei's inaugural ceremonies in Buenos Aires, Dec. 10, 2023. (Screenshot from Argentinean national TV broadcast)

(JTA) — Javier Milei invoked the story of the Maccabees in his inaugural address as Argentina’s president on Sunday, extending the right-wing populist’s prominent fascination with Judaism as he celebrated his own improbable victory.
“It is not by chance that this assumption takes place in the holiday of Hanukkah, the festival of light, and that the same celebrates the true essence of freedom,” Milei said during his speech on the steps of the parliament building in Buenos Aires. “The war of the Maccabees is the symbol of the victory of the weak over the powerful, of the few over the many, of the light over darkness and overall of the truth over untruth.”
Milei, 53, defied expectations when he was elected last month. A self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” who was the most right-wing of the five candidates, he ascended rapidly over the last year as he assailed the outgoing government, saying that its policies had fueled unemployment and inflation.
He delivered his speech with his back to the country’s lawmakers, in a break with tradition allowing him to face a large rally outside the parliament building.




Toward the tail of his speech warning Argentineans to prepare for a difficult economic reforms, he said he recalled how he and his now-vice president, Victoria Villaruel, had initially been told that their two-year-old political party, Freedom Advances, would have little influence.
“We were told we couldn’t do anything because we were only two in 257 congressmen,” he said. “And I also remember that my answer that day was a quote from the Book of Maccabees, 3:19, that goes: It is not the size of the army that victory in battle depends on, but strength comes from heaven.”


he speech was in keeping with Milei’s unusual relationship with Judaism. The non-Jewish economist has been studying with an Argentinean rabbi and has said he is interested in converting, though he says he does not see the role of president as compatible with Jewish observance. He visited the grave of the Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi in New York City in his first trip abroad after being elected and has vowed to make Israel — where he promised to move Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — his first foreign destination as president.
At campaign rallies, Milei has often walked on stage to the sound of a shofar, and in one of his final public appearances before the election, Milei was seen waving an Israeli flag among a large crowd in Rosario.
One Israeli flag was visible amid the sea of Argentinean flags at his speech in footage of the inaugural event broadcast to Argentineans.
Milei, whose term will last four years, was flanked by world leaders, including the king of Spain; Chilean President Gabriel Boric, a left-wing critic of Israel; Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a populist who cruised to a fourth term last year; and Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelensky, who was making his first trip to Latin America since Russia attacked his country in February 2022. Jair Bolsonaro, the populist leader recently unseated in Brazil, also attended.
Milei handed a menorah to Zelensky, who is Jewish, after the two leaders greeted each other warmly outside Casa Rosada, the country’s government headquarters, in a handoff captured on the live TV broadcast of the ceremony. Zelensky has embraced Milei as he has sought to build support for Ukraine in Latin America.
On Saturday night, on the eve of his inauguration, Milei met with a group of relatives of Israeli hostages kidnapped in Gaza since Oct. 7, lighting the Hanukkah candles with them and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was in the country for the inauguration.
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[Tooting Carmen]

There was some controversy the other day with Macron celebrating Hannukah too.

[Victor]

Lol Milei and Zelensky two typical modernist wannabe politicians, clowns, deviants and degenerates, Milei will forget 90% of his election program populism during few months of presidency, just like the ukroyiddo.

[Tooting Carmen]

Lol Milei and Zelensky two typical modernist wannabe politicians, clowns, deviants and degenerates.

Granted, but are Putin or Jinpin really any better?

[Victor]

Granted, but are Putin or Jinpin really any better?

Sure, at least they rule their countries and have power while those are muppets.

[gixajo]

Sure, at least they rule their countries and have power while those are muppets.

At the moment it seems that he has made a reading of reality of the situation of Argentina (we don't have money so we have to make hard adjustments that will temporarily hurt) that is much closer to the truth than what your "powerful-Leader who-is-always-right-in-everything-he-does-or-says-or-thinks" did when he ordered the Russian army to invade Ukraine.

He hasn't done anything yet, give him at least the same amount of time that Putin has had (about 25 years) to judge him.

[Victor]

At the moment it seems that he has made a reading of reality of the situation of Argentina (we don't have money so we have to make hard adjustments that will temporarily hurt) that is much closer to the truth than what your "powerful-Leader who-is-always-right-in-everything-he-does-or-says-or-thinks" did when he ordered the Russian army to invade Ukraine.

He hasn't done anything yet, give him at least the same amount of time that Putin has had (about 25 years) to judge him.

Milei who pretended to hate the state and to be an anarcho-capitalist became the state himself, he's just a clown, damn, is it so hard to understand?

The only two worthy rulers of 20 century in SA were Peron and Pinochet.

[Tooting Carmen]

The only two worthy rulers of 20 century in SA were Peron and Pinochet.

Funny you say that - although both authoritarians, their policies were rather different: the former was a centrist-populist and the latter a free-marketeer almost as much against public welfare/spending/ownership as Milei himself is.

[Victor]

Funny you say that - although both authoritarians, their policies were rather different: the former was a centrist-populist and the latter a free-marketeer almost as much against public welfare/spending/ownership as Milei himself is.

Milei is a libertarian clown, he can take any role, because he's not a politician, more a mental patient, typical modern political pigmee. But both Peron and Pinochet were people of might, who knew how to use their political tools. I don't equate Peron and Pinochet, but they were both politicians and leaders, not clowns.

[Tooting Carmen]

Milei is a libertarian clown, he can take any role, because he's not a politician, more a mental patient, typical modern political pigmee. But both Peron and Pinochet were people of might, who knew how to use their political tools. I don't equate Peron and Pinochet, but they were both politicians and leaders, not clowns.

Speaking of decadence, both of them had their corrupt side too.