Argentina’s Milei awarded Presidential Medal of Honor, honorary Bar Ilan doctorate for Israel support

During an eventful diplomatic visit to Israel this week, Argentine President Javier Milei is awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by President Isaac Herzog and an honorary doctorate from Bar Ilan University, in recognition of his support for the country.

The medal, received by Milei in a ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, “was awarded in recognition of [his] consistent and outspoken commitment to the State of Israel, his unwavering support for Israel on the international stage, his solidarity with the families of the [formerly Hamas-held Gaza] hostages, and his deep personal connection to the Jewish people and its heritage,” according to Herzog’s office.

At the ceremony, Milei, an outspoken Judeophile, welcomes “the increasingly closer ties between our peoples…the strengthening of this friendship, which has been one of the pillars of our government’s foreign policy, as part of a return to the Judeo-Christian values that once made us great.”

At a separate ceremony in Ramat Gan, Milei receives the doctorate from Bar Ilan University, which comes “in recognition of [Milei’s] public and diplomatic support for the State of Israel, and especially for his resolute stand in the international effort to secure the return of the Israeli hostages held captive by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza,” according to the university.

Several former hostages with Argentine citizenship, who were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, attended the ceremony, including Eitan Horn, David Cunio, Eitan Cunio, Fernando Marman, and Louis Har, according to Argentina’s embassy in Jerusalem.