Javier Milei wants his ministers to have ready the decree declaring
Hamas a “terrorist group”
for Argentine regulations before his departure to Israel next Monday the 5th.
Specifically, he wants to announce it before that trip, as a gesture to one of his main allies.
Clarín
knows
from high sources that the president's desire is also a matter of
strong debate within the Government
, where there is inter-ministerial work because it is a hot, sensitive decision.
But Milei wants to fight that battle.
In this case, the Argentine mission at the United Nations was first instructed
to demand greater condemnation from the UN to the barbaric attack by the fundamentalist group on October 7
on Israeli territory (1,200 dead), just when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued precautionary measures against Israel to ask for "immediate and effective" steps to prevent the commission of genocide in Gaza and to punish any incitement to the extermination of the Palestinians in the Strip.
And last Friday, during the event for the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, Milei said that despite the lack of reaction in many countries of the world in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Argentina "is
not silent in the face of terror of Hamas"
and demanded "the immediate release of all kidnapped civilians," including 11 Argentines.
But unlike Mauricio Macri's two decrees of July 2019 by which the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah was added to a registry of groups considered terrorist by Argentina,
the same elements do not exist to declare the Palestinian fundamentalist group Hamas terrorist.
Therefore, as this newspaper has already said, it is a
political decision
of the
President in which arguments are studied.
The issue of declaring Hamas a terrorist group is discussed behind closed doors by the President with his ministers Diana Mondino (Chancellor);
Patricia Bullrich (Security);
Mariano Cuneo Libarona (Justice) and Luis Petri (Defense), who as a deputy worked on the record on Hezbollah from Congress;
plus the head of the current Financial Information Unit (UIF), Juan Carlos Otero.
The ministers held talks with the Israeli embassy, and kept informed and consulted the presidents of the Delegation of Israeli Associations of Argentina (DAIA), Jorge Knoblovits, and of the AMIA, Amos Linetzky, who met with Petri to ask him about Hamas.
What was the journey with Hezbollah?
Firstly, despite the contrary warnings that the Foreign Ministry of the Macri government gave to the Government at the time regarding whether or not to declare Hezbollah a terrorist group, the Executive moved forward with its plans.
And with the advice of the then head of the UIF, Mariano Federici, Bullrich sees other hard-line sectors in that administration.
The diplomats maintained that it was dangerous to do so and that Argentina was guided by the United Nations list, in which Hezbollah is not considered terrorist, although it is by several countries such as the United States, Israel or some of the European Union.
A legal solution had to be found and they did.
The first step was taken by the UIF and they argued the following: that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, and they presented evidence of their actions;
who committed attacks in Argentina according to Justice, such as the attack on the Israeli Embassy (29 dead, 1992) and Amia (85 dead, 1994);
that in addition to committing attacks in the world and in the country, they were linked to the
Barakat clan,
accused of money laundering and possible links.
And because there are open investigations into the alleged use of
companies to move money in the Triple Border area
- between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay - that they would later send to the East.
And finally, the suffocation of Iran by the United States would lead Hezbollah to seek new financing markets.
Then, in July 2019, Federici first obtained a decree by which they created the RePET - Public Registry of Persons and Entities linked to acts of Terrorism and its Financing.
Then, the day before the 25th anniversary of the AMIA attack (July 18) of that year, Macri published the second decree by which Hezbollah was incorporated into Repet.
None of the elements considered are useful for the case under study of Hamas, which
did not commit attacks in Argentina and for which there is no terrorist activity recorded in this territory.
But there is a decision that if at some point it was the reason for caution regarding the decree - the existence of Argentine hostages in the hands of the terrorist group, in addition to an important Jewish community in Argentina that must be taken care of - this would also be the possible argument. for a decision in the opposite direction and thus mark the group here.
For now, the delegation that travels with Milei to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem includes Mondino, the general secretary of the Presidency and sister of the President, Karina, the head of the AFI Silvestre Sivori, and the presidential rabbi Axel Wahnish, his designated ambassador. before the Hebrew state.