Human rights groups disapprove of Netanyahu's potential visit to Argentina.

247 - The potential visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Argentina in September has generated strong reactions from Argentine human rights groups, politicians, and intellectuals. 

According to unconfirmed reports, Argentine President Javier Milei has invited Netanyahu to a meeting in Buenos Aires, but a meeting during the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of the month is also being considered. Speculation about the visit has generated calls for the arrest of the Israeli prime minister, accused of war crimes, should he set foot on Argentine soil, according to a report by [source name missing]. Haaretz.

The controversy was heightened by a statement from the group. Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo), one of the most respected human rights organizations in the country. The organization, known for its fight to reunite children kidnapped during the Argentine military dictatorship, condemned the visit in light of an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu. 

The group also criticized the possibility of the Israeli leader being received with honors by the Argentine government. "Silence is not an option in the face of the genocide that the State of Israel is committing in Gaza," the organization stated in a press release published at the end of August. "We do not want a genocidal criminal roaming freely in our country," it added.

The letter of Grandmothers of Plaza de MayoThe statement, which refers to genocide—a term widely used to describe the violations committed by the Argentine dictatorship between 1976 and 1983—also calls on governments to commit to ending genocide. The comparison between the acts committed in Palestine and Argentina is a sensitive issue in the country, where the term "genocide" still resonates strongly due to the trauma of military repression. In response to Netanyahu's potential visit, several human rights groups, including... CHILDREN (organization representing children of the disappeared), filed lawsuits requesting his arrest. 

The human rights lawyer, Rodolfo YanzónA petition was filed in late August requesting that Netanyahu be extradited to the International Criminal Court or, failing that, tried in Argentina for war crimes. The petition is specifically based on the killing of 15 humanitarian workers and paramedics in Rafah during an Israeli military incursion into Gaza, considered a crime against humanity.

The protest against Netanyahu's visit was also supported by 15 Argentine intellectuals, who signed an open letter condemning Milei's decision to invite the Israeli prime minister. Among the signatories are prominent figures such as... Adrián Gorelik, author and historian, and José Emilio Burucúa, renowned historian. The letter was clear in stating that the invitation represents a betrayal of Argentina's humanist values, placing the Argentine government alongside autocratic regimes and human rights violators.

Netanyahu, who previously visited Argentina in 2017 during the government of Mauricio MacriThe political climate in the country has changed since Milei took office. He has already made two visits to Israel and recently announced his intention to move the Argentine embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This gesture has been interpreted as a closer alignment with Israeli policy, but it has also generated criticism both inside and outside the country.

The question now is whether Milei's government will uphold the invitation and how it will respond to growing internal and international pressure on the matter. Netanyahu's visit to Argentina could become a turning point in the bilateral relationship and in the country's political stance regarding the conflict in Gaza and human rights issues.