Regev: Hope that new Argentinean government will be strong partner with Israel

JTA

Israel believes the new Argentinean government will be a strong partner with the Jewish state, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said.

Israel has “great hope that the Argentinean government will strengthen relations on the commercial, cultural and diplomatic level, and also will have a partner in the struggle against terrorism which has new faces such as Daesh, and also against Iranian terrorism,” Regev told JTA Wednesday. Daesh is an acronym for the Arabic words for the full name of the Islamic State.

Regev was scheduled to represent Israel at Thursday’s swearing in of newly elected Argentinean president Mauricio Macri.

On Wednesday night, Regev participated in a ceremony marking Remembrance Day of Jews expelled from Arab countries and Iran, organized by the Federation of Sephardic Institutions of Argentina, or FESERA, and the Israeli embassy. Regev extended greetings from Israel in Spanish, a language that she spoke at home with her mother, Marcel, originally from Melillia, Spain.

“Terrorism is a threat not only to Israel or Jews, it is a global threat and we are happy with the outlook of cooperation with the new government of Mauricio Macri,” added Regev, who light the third candle of Hanukkah with authorities of FESERA.

“Today, on Hanukkah, we see here a new light in Argentina,” Regev also told JTA. “We want to strength the Jewish community here, we will help from Israel and also we want the new government to help the local community,” she added.

Macri, who will be sworn in Thursday, said he will cancel the agreement signed with Iran to jointly investigate the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, as he vowed during the campaign.

In June 2014, he traveled to Israel to participate in a mayors’ conference in Jerusalem, where he offered his support to Israel against terrorism. “Israeli suffering has to be understood. From afar, it is easy to give advice, but you have to be in Israel to really understand the situation,” he told journalists.