BUENOS AIRES — The upcoming arrival of the Israeli prime minister, accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes in Gaza, places Argentina at a historic crossroads: either uphold international law or cement its alliance with a fascist and genocidal government. President Javier Milei’s silence is complicity and disdain for justice.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s likely visit to Argentina, scheduled for September, is a red alert—a direct challenge to international justice and an affront to human dignity. Since late 2024, the Israeli premier has been under an ICC arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza. This is no legal technicality or diplomatic euphemism: we are talking about systematic bombings, deliberate attacks against women and children, starvation used as a weapon of war, and over 61,000 deaths, mostly innocent civilians. Moreover, the brutal repression has silenced nearly all journalists attempting to report from Gaza, erasing voices and hiding truths.

Argentina has been a State Party to the Rome Statute since 2001 and has signed all cooperation agreements with the ICC. This means that if Netanyahu sets foot on Argentine soil, the law mandates his immediate arrest. This is not a matter of political will—it is a ratified and binding international commitment.

However, the government of Javier Milei—openly fascist and submissive to the orders of Tel Aviv and Washington—has already made clear it will not lift a finger to enforce justice. It prefers ideological complicity with a genocidal regime rather than honoring commitments to international law.

Protesters hold signs denouncing President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 9 [Francisco Loureiro/Reuters]
 

The ICC lacks its own police force and relies on States to execute its mandates. Article 87, paragraph 8 of the Rome Statute establishes that if a State Party refuses to cooperate, the Court may issue a “finding of non-cooperation” and refer the case to international bodies such as the Assembly of States Parties or the UN Security Council. Thus, Milei risks turning Argentina into a country complicit in and protective of war crimes.

Accusations against Netanyahu and the State of Israel come not only from abroad. Israeli human rights organizations such as B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHRI) have labeled the situation in Gaza as genocide. “Nothing prepares you to realize you are part of a society committing genocide,” says Yuli Novak, director of B’Tselem.

In Argentina, a broad coalition of political groups, intellectuals, teachers, deputies, and human rights collectives have strongly repudiated this visit. Under the title “Oprobrium and Ignominy,” a recent statement denounces Netanyahu’s presence as a “betrayal of the finest humanistic traditions of our history” and an act of “complicity with barbarism.” The text questions the Argentine government’s geopolitical alignment with Israel and the United States, recalling that the Executive branch has openly supported Israel’s military strategy and announced the relocation of the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem, forever tarnishing values of dignity, respect, and freedom.

The Argentine Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People and its constituent organizations have expressed their absolute repudiation: Netanyahu represents a genocidal state and a systematic violator of international law, responsible for thousands of deaths, millions displaced, and the arbitrary detention of over six thousand Palestinians under inhumane conditions. Israeli brutality is a colonialist, segregationist, and anti-democratic reality, sustained by terror and massacres since the Nakba in 1948 and the Naksa in 1967 to expel and oppress a people.

Israel’s international isolation deepens: France, Spain, and the United Kingdom have announced recognition of the Palestinian state, distancing themselves from the US agenda. Many other countries condemn the genocide, including China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Brazil. Mexico has even offered asylum to orphaned children. Consider these harrowing figures: according to UNICEF, approximately 17,000 children in Palestine have been orphaned due to Israeli attacks. “Children represent roughly half of the nearly two million residents of Gaza forced to flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere,” the agency stated. More than 100 Gazan children have died of starvation, and another 90,000 lack sufficient food to survive.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu limits his international travels, aware that any prosecutor in an ICC member country can order his arrest. Milei has chosen an irreversible path: allying with a government accused of war crimes, announcing the embassy’s move to Jerusalem, and denying the voice of international justice. If Netanyahu sets foot in Argentina, our country will face a merciless mirror: either it respects the international law it swore to uphold or becomes an open refuge for impunity and global fascism.

(The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of the Tehran Times. )