NIR鈥橭Z, Israel: Argentina鈥檚 President Javier Milei on Thursday likened Hamas鈥檚 attacks on southern Israel to the Holocaust, after touring a kibbutz targeted in the October 7 raids.
Milei joined Israel鈥檚 President Isaac Herzog on a visit to Nir Oz near the border with Gaza, where residents were killed or taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group.
They were accompanied by former hostage Ofelia Roitman, an elderly Argentinian national who moved to Israel in 1985, making her first visit back to the farming community since she was released.
Milei, who was elected in November and is on his first official state visit as president, has appeared visibly emotional during his time in Israel, and said Thursday鈥檚 tour was 鈥渧ery moving.鈥�
He again gave his backing to Israel鈥檚 fight-back against Hamas, calling the Palestinian Islamists a 鈥渢errorist group鈥� who had committed 鈥渁 crime against humanity.鈥�
鈥淭he free world can鈥檛 remain indifferent in this case, as we see clear examples of terrorism and anti-Semitism and what I would describe as 21st century Nazism,鈥� he said.
鈥淲hen we hear about the methods that were used this time, it reminds us of the atrocities of the Holocaust,鈥� he added, according to remarks translated from Spanish by Herzog鈥檚 office.
Many traumatized Israelis have likened the attacks, which left 1,160 dead according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli statistics, to the horrors of the Holocaust.
A total of 132 of the 250 hostages taken are still in Gaza, but 29 are presumed dead, Israel has said.
But the head of Jerusalem鈥檚 Yad Vashem memorial center, has described comparisons as 鈥渟implistic... even if there are similarities in the genocidal intentions, sadism and barbarism of Hamas.鈥�
鈥淭he crimes that took place on October 7 are on the same level as Nazi crimes, but they are not the Shoah,鈥� Dani Dayan told AFP last year, using another term for the Holocaust.
Milei, who was raised in a Catholic family but has studied Jewish scripture, placed a wreath near the eternal flame at the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem on Wednesday.
He arrived in Israel on Tuesday on a four-day visit and immediately announced plans to move the Argentinian embassy to Jerusalem.
Only a handful of countries have their embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, rather than Tel Aviv, and any international recognition of the city鈥檚 status as a capital is deeply controversial.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, said in response that Jerusalem remains 鈥渙ccupied Palestinian land.鈥�