The Isaac Accords Have One Member, and No Way to Join
LATIN AMERICA · DIPLOMACY
Key Facts
- —The membership Argentina is the only state to have joined, as of 8 September 2026.
- —The mechanism There is no accession instrument. No treaty text, no signature page, no depositary and no ratification.
- —The catch About twenty legislators signed a non-binding resolution. That became twelve countries in the retelling.
- —The count The organisers’ own materials variously say ten, twelve, thirteen and fourteen countries.
- —What was signed A framework launch in Jerusalem on 19 April 2026, plus three bilateral memorandums with Argentina.
- —Who funds it A New York non-profit created by the Genesis Prize Foundation, seeded with Javier Milei’s declined US$1 million prize.
The Isaac Accords are described as a regional realignment. Argentina is the only state that has joined, and no mechanism exists for a second.
A sentence has been travelling around the internet since June. Twelve Latin American countries, it says, have backed the Isaac Accords.
One country has joined. It is Argentina, and it has been the only one since the framework was launched in April.
There is also no way for a second country to join. No accession instrument exists.
That is not a technicality. It makes the sentence about twelve countries incoherent by construction.
What the Isaac Accords Actually Are
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Argentine President Javier Milei announced the framework in Jerusalem on 19 April 2026. Three memorandums were signed the same day.
The first covers counter-terrorism cooperation between the two foreign ministries. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and his Argentine counterpart Pablo Quirno signed it.
The second covers artificial intelligence, between Israel’s national AI directorate and Argentina’s innovation secretariat. The same two ministers signed on their behalf.
The third amends a 2017 air services agreement. Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev signed that one, alongside Quirno.
All three are bilateral, and all three are with Argentina. Netanyahu was explicit about the scale that day.
It begins with the two of us, he said. This is our first step.
No Treaty, No Depositary, No Members
A pro-Israel legal institute reviewed the framework in September. Its conclusion was that the accords do not themselves create binding international legal obligations between signatory states.
The law firm DLA Piper reached a similar view in April. It declined to classify the framework and identified only the bilateral memorandums as carrying legal status.
Argentina’s foreign ministry calls it a new strategic framework. Its statement welcomes future expansion to other like-minded nations and names none of them.
So there is nothing to sign, nowhere to lodge it, and no list of parties. A country cannot accede to the Isaac Accords because there is no accession.
Where the Number Came From
The Israel Allies Foundation held a conference in Buenos Aires from 28 to 30 June 2026. It ran in cooperation with American Friends of Isaac Accords.
More than twenty people signed a resolution there. They were legislators, ambassadors, religious figures and other political figures.
The signatories were largely chairs of pro-Israel caucuses in their own national legislatures. A caucus chair does not bind a parliament, let alone a government.
The resolution is non-binding. Nobody involved has claimed otherwise.
The Organisers Cannot Agree Either
The Genesis Prize Foundation headlined its own announcement with fourteen countries. Its body text says more than ten.
The Jerusalem Post headline says lawmakers from twelve countries. The list printed underneath names thirteen.
Israel National News said more than a dozen. The Media Line said fourteen.
None of that is fabrication. The organisers described legislators, and they were accurate about that much.
What happened next was compression. Lawmakers from twelve countries became twelve countries, and then twelve governments.
The Error Crosses the Aisle
This is not a partisan artefact. The left-wing site Naked Capitalism is sharply critical of the initiative.
In August it wrote that the governments of twelve countries had signed a resolution backing the accords. That is the promoters’ claim, upgraded.
An outlet hostile to the project repeated the project’s most flattering claim, upgraded. That is the clearest evidence that the failure here is editorial rather than ideological.
Who Pays for It
American Friends of Isaac Accords was incorporated on 11 August 2025 in New York. It is a registered charity, created by the Genesis Prize Foundation.
Its seed money is the US$1 million Genesis Prize awarded to Milei in June 2025. He declined the money personally and redirected it.
Its named grantees include the Israel Allies Foundation. That is the organisation that convened the Buenos Aires conference in cooperation with it.
The amounts are not public. The charity has not yet filed a return, so its disbursements to those grantees are undisclosed.
The circle is worth stating plainly. A foundation funds an advocacy group, which convenes legislators, whose resolution is then reported as independent regional endorsement.
What Is Genuinely Happening
A piece that stopped there would be unfair. Real bilateral movement between Israel and Latin America has been substantial this year.
Colombia recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights on 10 August 2026, three days after President Abelardo de la Espriella took office. It is the second country to do so after the United States in 2019.
Bolivia restored full diplomatic relations in December 2025 under President Rodrigo Paz. Costa Rica has adopted a working definition of antisemitism and signed a trade agreement.
Ecuador opened an innovation office in Jerusalem. It is an office, not an embassy, and the distinction has been lost repeatedly.
Paraguay reopened its Jerusalem embassy in December 2024. Peru’s new government has taken calls from Israeli officials and announced nothing.
None of that is accession to a framework. It is a set of separate national decisions being retrospectively bundled into a multilateral story.
What to Watch
The first marker is whether an accession instrument is ever drafted. Until one exists, membership claims cannot be checked against anything.
The second is the charity’s first public filing. It will show what was spent, and on whom.
The third is a government saying so itself. No Latin American foreign ministry has announced accession, and none has publicly denied it either.
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many countries have joined the Isaac Accords?
One. Argentina announced the framework with Israel on 19 April 2026 and remains the only state party as of 8 September 2026.
What about the twelve countries reported in June?
That refers to a non-binding resolution signed in Buenos Aires by more than twenty legislators, ambassadors and religious figures, most of them chairs of pro-Israel caucuses. It was not signed by governments.
Is there an Isaac Accords treaty?
No. Israel and Argentina signed three bilateral memorandums covering counter-terrorism, artificial intelligence and air services. Legal reviews describe the framework itself as non-binding, with no accession mechanism.
Sources: Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Argentine Cancilleria, Genesis Prize Foundation, Jerusalem Post, The Media Line, thinc., DLA Piper, Times of Israel, Charity Navigator, Rio Times.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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