Argentina declares Hamas a terrorist organization, in move designed to show support for Israel
The declaration comes days before the 30th anniversary of a deadly attack on Buenos Aires’ Jewish community center

Argentinian President Javier Milei speaks at an event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Holocaust museum in Buenos Aires, Jan. 26, 2024. (Juan Melamed)
(JTA) — BUENOS AIRES — Argentina has officially designated Hamas an “international terrorist organization,” in a show of support for Israel that extends President Javier Milei’s shift away from the country’s pro-Palestinian past.
Milei’s office announced the move on Friday, citing Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the group’s links with Iran and a recent landmark ruling by Argentina’s judiciary that Iran was the architect of two deadly terror attacks in Buenos Aires in the 1990s.
The announcement attributed the declaration to Milei’s “unwavering commitment to recognizing terrorists for what they are.”
Argentina’s Jewish political umbrella organization, DAIA, praised Milei’s move. “The representative entity of the Argentine Jewish community welcomes the historic act,” the group said in a statement on X.
The declaration is largely symbolic but does mean that any assets tied to Hamas in Argentina can be frozen. The government agency that will now pursue Hamas’ assets previously identified and froze some assets tied to Hezbollah while the Argentinian government was on its way to declaring the Lebanon-based group a terror organization.
That declaration came just before the 25th anniversary of the AMIA Jewish community center bombing in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people on July 18, 1994. The new announcement comes days before the 30th anniversary of the bombing, which Argentina attributes to Hezbollah and Iran. (Both groups have denied responsibility.)
Jewish groups including World Jewish Congress and the Latin American Jewish Congress are hosting an anti-terrorism summit in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, in advance of a Wednesday morning demonstration in front of the rebuilt and recently refurbished AMIA building that international leaders are expected to attend.
Milei — whose embrace of Israel aligns with both his right-wing politics and his personal affinity for Judaism — is expected to speak, along with U.S. antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, Canadian antisemitism envoy Deborah Lyons, local Jewish leaders and officials from across Latin America.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
-
Fast Forward Yarden Bibas says ‘I am here because of Trump’ and pleads with him to stop the Gaza war
-
Fast Forward Trump’s plan to enlist Elon Musk began at Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave
-
Film & TV In this Jewish family, everybody needs therapy — especially the therapists themselves
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.