Uruguay’s New President Openly Supports Israel

Photo Credit: Intendencia de Montevideo / Wikimedia

Yamandú Orsi, April 2021

Uruguay’s new President Yamandu Orsi says he supports Israel’s right to exist – even while backing calls for a Palestinian state.

Orsi, a left-wing politician, won the country’s runoff election this past Sunday.

After a September 2023 to the Jewish State organized by the Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay and the Latin American Jewish Congress, Orsi expressed admiration for the multicultural mosaic he found in Israeli society.

Upon his return home, Orsi – who is a history teacher — also told an interviewer he was shocked to discover facts he did not know about World War II and the Holocaust during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem. He has taught classes on both.

Uruguay was the first South American nation to officially recognize the new State of Israel in 1948 and was the first nation to welcome a new Israeli Embassy the same year.

At present the country is home to some 15,000 Jews, most living in the capital city of Montevideo and the coastal city of Punta del Este.