Brazil–Israel relations

Brazil–Israel relations refers to the bilateral relations between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the State of Israel. Brazil has an embassy in Tel Aviv and an honorary consulate in Haifa. Israel has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo. The Brazilian ambassador to Israel is Gerson Menandro Garcia de Freitas. Israel's current ambassador to Brazil is Daniel Zohar Zonshine. Brazil and Israel maintain close political and military ties. The two nations enjoy a degree of arms cooperation. Brazil is a full member state of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, while several Brazilian elected officials participate in the Israel Allies Caucus, a political advocacy organization that mobilizes pro-Israel parliamentarians in governments worldwide.

Brazil has the 9th largest Jewish community in the world and the 2nd largest in Latin America, with 107,329 Jews in Brazil in 2010, according to the IBGE census. The Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil.U.S. Department of State. ''Brazil'', Retrieved on 2013-12-18
/ref> Around 25,000 Brazilians live in Israel, most of them being Brazilian Jews.

Support for the Jewish people during World War II

Relations between Brazil and Israel have been characterized as historically "unstable". Antisemitism was especially prevalent in Brazil prior to World War II, including the purposeful exclusion of Jewish immigrants.

In the early stages of World War II, Brazil took part in the first three consultative meetings of the Ministers of External Relations of the American Republics which worked out the recommendation for the collective severance of diplomatic relations with the Axis Powers. Brazil announced, in the 1942 Rio conference, that it had cut all diplomatic ties with Nazi Germany, thereby siding with Allied Powers. Eventually most South American states did the same, with the exception of Argentina and Chile.

During Oswaldo Aranha's term as Brazil's Minister for External Relations, from 1938 to 1944, many Jews were granted visas to Brazil. In 1939, Jews were granted 4,601 permanent and temporary resident visas to Brazil. In that year, 9% of all permanent residency visas and 14% of temporary Brazilian visas were emitted to people of Jewish origin. In 1940, 2,500 Jewish immigrants were given visas to Brazil.

Albert Einstein asked Oswaldo Aranha for help in obtaining a visa for his friend, German Jew Helene Fabian-Katz. Einstein had previously appealed to the United States government for help, but the US denied Fabian-Katz a visa. Helene Fabian-Katz was granted a visa to Brazil and joined her brother, who was already living in São Paulo.

Nowadays Brazil has the 9th largest Jewish community in the world, with a total of 107,329 individuals in 2010 according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil.

Role in the establishment of the State of Israel

Brazil played a large role in the establishment of the State of Israel. Brazil held the Presidency office of the United Nations General Assembly in 1947, which proclaimed the Partition Plan for Palestine. Brazilian Ambassador Oswaldo Aranha, then the chairman of the United Nations General Assembly, supported and heavily lobbied for the partition of Palestine toward the creation of the State of Israel.

Feldberg is careful to point out, however, that this vote in favor of Israel was largely political, as Brazil was trying to strengthen relations with the United States, who was in favor of the Partition. Despite this vote, they abstained in a vote that decreed Israel was a sovereign nation. Brazil also did not move its embassy to Jerusalem, largely because the Vatican was against it.

Today, streets in Israeli cities such as Beer-Sheva and Ramat-Gan, and a square in Jerusalem, are named after Oswaldo Aranha. In 2007, a street in Tel Aviv was named in his honor at a ceremony attended by his relatives and Brazil's ambassador to Israel.

Brazil was also one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel, on 7 February 1949, less than one year after Israeli Declaration of Independence. The first Israeli embassy was opened in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, then capital of Brazil, with David Shaltiel as the first ambassador.

Political ties

Some Brazilian politicians participate in the Israel Allies Caucus, a transnational pro-Israel lobby coalition. Federal Deputy Fátima Pelaes, a representative for the state of Amapá in the Brazilian Parliament, serves as the co-chair for the Brazil Israel Allies Caucus.

Brazil stands alongside Israel in the fight against antisemitism. Brazil strictly condemns antisemitism, and antisemitic acts are an explicit violation of the law. According to the Brazilian penal code it is illegal to write, edit, publish, or sell literature that promotes antisemitism or racism. The law provides penalties of up to five years in prison for crimes of racism or religious intolerance and enables courts to fine or imprison for two to five years anyone who displays, distributes, or broadcasts antisemitic or racist material,''Brazil''
U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2013-12-08. although antisemitism in Brazil remains rare. Also in 1989, the Brazilian Senate passed a law (law no. 7716 of 5 January 1989) prohibiting the manufacture, trade and distribution of swastikas for the purpose of disseminating Nazism. Anyone who breaks that law is liable to serve a prison term of between two and five years.

The growing political relations between the two countries over the years are based on a history of friendship and cooperation. In recent years, several Israeli ministers have been to Brazil, in particular the ministers of agriculture, public security, education, diaspora and public diplomacy, and trade. On the Brazilian side, Israel was visited by the Minister of Education (2006), the President of the Central Bank, the Minister of Environment, the Minister of National Integration (2007), the Secretary for Women Policies, the Secretary for Strategic Affairs (2008), the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Tourism and the Head of the Institutional Security Cabinet (2010).''Brazil-Israel''
Brazilian Embassy in Tel Aviv. Retrieved 2013-12-09. The Minister of Trade, Industry and Development accompanied the former president in March 2010. Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Celso Amorim visited Israel five times between 2005 and 2010.

In July 2014 Brazil condemned "the disproportionate use of force by Israel in the Gaza Strip" and recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv. Israel called Brazil a "diplomatic dwarf that creates problems rather than contributes to solutions," and compared the proportionality of the death toll to Brazil's defeat at the 2014 World Cup. In August 2014, President of Israel Reuven Rivlin apologized to the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff for these statements, which he said did not represent the feelings of the Israeli population.

Brazil–Israel relations have improved significantly during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro since 2019. Brazilian president Bolsonaro has expressed his love for Israel several times. He has even said to have turned Brazil into Israel's new best friend.

In December 2019, Brazil opened a trade office in Jerusalem. Brazil also considered moving its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

State visits: past

Israeli President Zalman Shazar scheduled a seven-day state visit to Brazil in 1966. From July 18 to July 25, Israel's president was the official guest of President Castello Branco. In honor of the Israeli President, a bill calling upon the Brazilian government to grant honorary citizenship to President Shazar was introduced on May 23, 1966, in the Chamber of Deputies at Brasilia. The bill in the federal legislature was introduced by Deputy Cunha Bueno. The Brazilian Post Office Department announced on June 1, 1966, that it would issue a special postage stamp carrying a portrait of Mr. Shazar.

Although Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil between 1956 and 1961, visited Israel after his tenure, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the first Brazilian president to visit Israel while in office, in 2010.

During the 2009 Shimon Peres state visit to Brazil, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced the reopening of the Israeli consulate-general in São Paulo, Brazil.

Recent state visits

Netanyahu's official visit to Brazil

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Brazil between December 2018 and January 2019 marked the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister. The prime minister landed in Brazil on December 28, 2018, in Rio de Janeiro, for a five-day visit. He and Israeli first lady Sara Netanyahu

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases