As wildfires rip through Argentina’s Patagonia region, destroying forests and uprooting communities, journalist Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone, has put forward a damning allegation: that former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and Israeli citizens may be intentionally setting fires to exploit sweeping new land laws under President Javier Milei.
According to Blumenthal, the fires are not merely ecological disasters — they are potentially acts of economic and political opportunism, enabled by Argentina’s abrupt repeal of fire-sale land protections.
The Claim: Fire as a Tool for Land Seizure
In widely circulated commentary, Blumenthal explains that Argentina recently repealed laws banning the sale or development of land damaged by wildfires, a move critics warn opens the door to predatory land grabs. Under the new framework, scorched land can be purchased at rock-bottom prices, creating a direct financial incentive for arson.
Blumenthal argues that this legal shift cannot be separated from the timing and scale of the fires — nor from who stands to benefit.
He states that there is a “widespread belief in Argentina” that Israelis may be responsible for some of the blazes, pointing to what he describes as a large and highly controversial presence of former Israeli soldiers living in Patagonia.
Former IDF Soldiers in Patagonia
According to Blumenthal, Patagonia has long attracted former IDF soldiers, some of whom he claims are “hiding out” abroad. He further alleges that many are attempting to evade accountability for actions carried out during Israel’s war on Gaza, which he and others describe as genocidal — a characterization hotly disputed by Israel and its allies, but increasingly used by international legal scholars, human rights organizations, and Global South governments.
Blumenthal’s argument is not that every Israeli living in Patagonia is involved, but that a militarized population trained in coercive tactics, operating in a legal gray zone, and positioned to profit from land destruction deserves scrutiny — not blanket immunity.
Why the IDF’s Record Matters
Blumenthal emphasizes that these allegations are not emerging in a vacuum. The Israel Defense Forces has a documented history of environmental destruction in occupied territories, including:
Burning agricultural land
Destroying orchards and water infrastructure
Using scorched-earth tactics during military operations
Given that history, Blumenthal argues it is reckless and dishonest to treat the idea of intentional arson by IDF veterans as unthinkable or taboo.
If any other military with this record were implicated in land-clearing fires tied to speculative development, journalists would demand investigations. With Israel, he says, the default response is denial and character assassination.
Media Silence and Selective Outrage
Blumenthal is sharply critical of Western media outlets that dismiss the allegations outright while refusing to investigate the underlying incentives created by Milei’s deregulation push. He argues that the press is engaging in selective skepticism — aggressively questioning claims that implicate Israeli actors while uncritically accepting official narratives in every other conflict zone.
The result, he warns, is manufactured ignorance: fires rage, land laws change, profits loom — yet the conversation stops the moment Israel’s military record enters the frame.
A Question Argentina Cannot Ignore
Blumenthal does not claim a signed directive from Tel Aviv. His challenge is more fundamental:
Why are foreign militarized actors with a history of land destruction operating in a region newly opened to land speculation — and why is the press unwilling to investigate?
Until Argentine authorities conduct transparent, independent inquiries into who started the fires and who stands to benefit, Blumenthal argues the devastation of Patagonia will remain not just an environmental tragedy, but a case study in how militarism, deregulation, and silence converge.
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