Argentina’s Milei to receive Genesis Prize in Israel on June 11

Argentina’s President Javier Milei will visit Israel on June 11 to receive the Genesis Prize at a special ceremony at the Knesset.

The prize will be presented to Milei by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and chairman of the Genesis Prize Stan Polovets, after which Argentina’s president will deliver a nationally televised speech to Israel’s lawmakers. A previous visit scheduled for March was postponed for Milei to tend to domestic issues.

Milei was awarded the prize, sometimes referred to as “the Jewish Nobel Prize,” for reversing Argentina’s historic anti-Israel positions at the UN, designating Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups, and reopening investigations into past anti-Jewish attacks, the Genesis Prize Foundation has said. The Genesis Prize committee also cited his success in stabilizing Argentina’s economy and achieving a fiscal surplus.

As all other Genesis Prize laureates have done, Milei declined the $1 million prize money. In his honor, the Genesis Prize Foundation will launch a new initiative to improve Israel’s ties with Latin American nations and promote shared values like democracy, economic reform and opposition to antisemitism.