Against the travelers from Israel: “They are not backpackers, they are soldiers – foreign intervention”

Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina, is known to every Israeli backpacker as the “city at the end of the world”, the southernmost point bordering the Beagle Strait, which is a mandatory stop on the way to Antarctica or on the Green Wave route in South America. But in recent days, this picturesque town has become the focus of diplomatic drama and geopolitical concerns, following one statement by Israel’s ambassador to Argentina, Eyal Sela.

Ambassador Sela presented an idea according to which Israel would establish an honorary consulate in Ushuaia, with the aim of providing a response and logistics to the tens of thousands of Israeli travelers and tourists who flood the area every year, especially young people after military service. This idea fits well into the foreign policy of Argentina’s president, Javier Millay, who previously declared himself the “most Zionist president” and shows unqualified support for Israel. But what sounded like a routine diplomatic gesture to tourists ignited a widespread media and political storm among residents and social organizations in Argentina.

The alarmed reactions to the establishment of the consulate were not long in coming, led by Daniel Maseno, a member of the “League for Free Palestine in the Land of Fire”, who launched a sharp attack in the local media and warned that the establishment of a consulate is not an innocent step at all. “We want to raise the warning level,” he said in a radio interview. “It’s not just the establishment of a consulate, it has a geopolitical impact. It’s about foreign intervention and sabotage of Argentina’s position regarding the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.”

Mesno even directly attacked the Israeli backpackers who come to Patagonia: “They are not ordinary backpackers or typical couples. They come in groups of five, six, seven or eight. For me, these are soldiers who have finished their military service and are coming to Patagonia.” He added and accused the travelers of showing a hostile attitude towards demonstrations in support of Palestine.

Critics of the establishment of the consulate link the idea to the activities of companies with Israeli ties in strategic sectors in southern Argentina. One of them is the energy company Navitas Petroleum, which is a 65 percent partner in the Malvinas Islands (Falkland) oil exploitation project alongside a British company (Rockhopper), with an investment of about 2.1 billion dollars. Next to it is mentioned Mekorot, the national water company of Israel, which previously signed water management agreements with 12 districts in Argentina. The activists claim that these agreements convey strategic information and allow access to essential natural resources. According to the opponents, the planned consulate could serve as a “support platform” and a foothold for these companies in the southern area.

In the shadow of the wave of rumors, the local authorities rush to cool the flames. Andres Dachari, the Secretary of Foreign Relations of the Tierra del Fuego province, clarified that as of now no practical step has been taken to establish the representative office. “We have nothing in hand,” Dachari clarified in an interview with local radio station FM Origen. “We inquired with the Foreign Ministry of Argentina and there is no procedure that has been initiated. This is currently only a media statement by the Israeli ambassador.”

Dachari explained that the appointment of an honorary consul is a complex bureaucratic process: if it is an Argentine citizen, the nomination must be approved by the province, then examined by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally approved by the Senate. The secretary emphatically rejected the claims that a consulate is intended for intelligence activity: “You don’t need an honorary consulate of any country to gather intelligence, it doesn’t work that way. The goal is only to assist tourists or foreign residents.”

Beneath the surface of the discussion about resources and tourism, one of the oldest and best-known anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in South America once again appeared: “Plan Andinia”. This is a false plot that was born in the 60s and 70s by neo-Nazi and nationalist elements in Argentina (including the son of Adolf Eichmann and the writer Walter Bebraji Ayanda). The theory claims that the Jews and the Zionists have a “secret plan” to take over the region of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile in order to establish a second Jewish state there.

This plot, constantly debunked by historians and researchers, was used in the past by the military junta in Argentina (1976-1983) to persecute and torture Jewish detainees (as journalist Hakubo Timmerman documented in his book). In its modern incarnation, conspiracy believers tend to present the Israeli backpackers who travel in Patagonia after military service as “disguised scouts” who gather intelligence and map the area in preparation for a future occupation. Now the reports about an Israeli consulate in Ushuaia, along with President Millay’s close relations with the Jewish community and Israel, give new fuel to the conspiracies on social networks.