by: Joshua Spurlock ~ Mideast Update
Tuesday, 4 February 2025 | Argentinian Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein visited at the Western Wall on Sunday as part of a broader diplomatic trip to Israel, but he didn’t just see the historic site. He prayed there—for the Jewish state.
“Coming here is emotional and unique; the feeling is indescribable. I feel protected here and pray for the peace of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and an end to hatred,” Werthein was quoted by an Israeli press release as saying on Sunday.
Argentina’s top diplomat, who is Jewish, put on the traditional prayer boxes—known as “tefillin” in Hebrew and which hold key passages of the Bible—and “offered prayers for the peace and security of both Israel and Argentina at the Western Wall, emphasizing his commitment to the strong ties between the two nations,” according to the press release.
Werthein is in Israel to start off a longer tour of the Middle East that includes the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. While in Israel, he is holding “high-level meetings” with Israel’s top authorities and representatives of the private sector, according to the Argentinian Foreign Ministry website, with cooperation on innovation, security, technology and diplomatic ties on the agenda.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry press release on the trip, translated from Spanish by Google, noted that Werthein would also “hold a meeting with relatives of Argentine hostages who have been kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas, reaffirming the Argentine government’s commitment to their immediate and unconditional release.”
Argentinia’s Ambassador to Israel, Axel Wahnish, posted to X (formerly Twitter) welcoming Werthein to Israel with a goal “to make it clear that Argentina and Israel are partners and friends on the international level.”
Wahnish highlighted the meeting regarding the hostages held by Hamas, saying the Argentine government “has expressed its support for Israel since the beginning of the war, and it is in the President’s [Javier Milei] best interest to demand the immediate release of all hostages.”
Despite his high-level priorities, Werthein took the time to visit the “Gateway to Heaven” exhibit, which covers the historical and continuous Jewish connection to the Western Wall, according to the Israeli press release.
As part of his visit to Judaism’s holiest site today and a key remnant of the Second Temple, Werthein met with rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, and the director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Mordechai (Suli) Eliav. According to the Israeli press release, the two “expressed their appreciation for the unwavering support of the Argentine government, led by President Javier Milei, for Israel and the Jewish people.”
Posted on February 4, 2025
Source: (This article was originally published by Mideast Update on February 2, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today.)
Photo Credit: Daniel Johnson, Bridges for Peace
Photo License: Wikimedia
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