Argentine President Javier Milei called for the immediate release of Hamas’ hostages in Gaza in a speech he gave on Friday at an event for International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum.

“Argentina is not silenced in the face of Hamas’ terror, and it demands the immediate release of each kidnapped civilian, including our eleven fellow citizens,” he said. The president also confirmed he would travel to Israel in the upcoming weeks. On the campaign trail, Milei indicated that his government would pursue closer relations with Israel, a country he sees as part of the “free world.” Within this category, Milei also includes the U.S.

“The Holocaust and the Nazis are not a thing of the past,” Milei added, referring to the October 7 attack the Islamist organization Hamas carried out in Israel, in which it murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped another 240. Among those taken were around 20 Argentine citizens, eleven of whom are still being held hostage in Gaza.

“The coordinated mass murder of so many Jews on the same day has not been seen since the Holocaust. Amidst a global context that is seeing the resurgence of anti-Semitism, we have to be firm in our intransigence against terrorism and not look the other way,” he said.

In his speech, the president said Argentina has a position of “intransigence against terrorism.” He also said that he would put an end to the impunity surrounding the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history. In 2024, it will have been 30 years since the July 18, 1994, attack.

During the event, Jorge Knoblovitz, president of the Delegation of Israeli-Argentine Associations (DAIA, by its Spanish initials), complained about an International Court of Justice (ICJ) resolution issued on Friday that ordered Israel to authorize the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The resolution also called on the Israeli government to take action to prevent acts of genocide as it wages war against Hamas militants. Israeli forces have killed more than 26,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the region’s authorities.

“It is absurd,” Knoblovitz complained. “Commemorating an anniversary of the Shoah (the Hebrew word used to reference the Holocaust) at a time when another totalitarian and criminal regime is rising again against the Jews in Israel is an alarm that should pierce the ears of all humanity,” he said.

In 2005, the United Nations declared January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet troops in 1945. The event was carried out on a Friday this year, given that the 27th falls on a Saturday, the day of rest for Judaism known as the Shabbat.

The event began around 11:30 a.m. and lasted a little over an hour. Foreign Ministry Diana Mondino, Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, Human Capital Sandra Pettovello, Defense Minister Luis Petri, presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, Buenos Aires City mayor Jorge Macri, and the president of the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires, Marcelo Mindlin, were also in attendance.

–with information from Télam