It seems that 2022 year will be a crucial year for Brazil especially that the presidential elections has become imminent. There are calls for the return of the left under the previous president Lula da Silva according to most opinion polls. This means that the end of the extreme right’s era in Brazil is near and governor’s chair will be withdrawn from Jair Bolsonaro. But there are many promises that Bolsonaro made which have not seen fruition; will he keep his promise and transfer the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem before the election? Will he do what former US President Trump did before leaving the office? Or will he raise the issue again in an electoral context to expand evangelical support in his re-election campaign or possibly even before?
“Israel is a sovereign state. If you decide on your capital city we will act in accordance” Bolsonaro told Israel Hayom in November 2018 after winning the election.
He visited Israel in March 2019 and was expected to announce whether he planned to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Instead Bolsonaro announced that Brazil would open a commercial office in Jerusalem. In December 2019 Brazilian parliamentarian Eduardo Bolsonaro came to Israel and opened APEX-Brazil’s trade office in Jerusalem. “Trump took nine months to decide to give his final word so that the embassy was transferred” Bolsonaro said justifying the reason behind the pace of the move.
Latin affairs specialist Ali Farhat told MEMO that Bolsonaro will not gain anything from moving the embassy before he leaves. The majority of Brazil’s political have been clear that they will enter a conflict or dispute with Palestine and the Palestinian cause. Farhat explains: “Bolsonaro was raising these slogans for the affection of the Anglican Church dreaming of getting close to the United States and Trump. Consequently he raised many slogans without realizing that it would be impossible to achieve them due to Brazil’s historical relationship with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause. The rejection was from all political figures in Brazil even the far-right themselves.”
Brazil’s historic position was to be equidistant from all these states while at the same time holding a position of respect for human rights international law and UN resolutions. The rise of the extreme right under Bolsonaro there has been an eagerness to develop relations with Israel at the expense of relations with Arabs and Palestinians.
“The right-wing has failed to run the state and Bolsonaro has caused massive damage to Brazil’s economic structure and foreign relations. He has also caused a crisis in the health system due to his irrational decisions during the coronavirus pandemic. In addition Bolsonaro broke away from that moderate stance and dispensed with former President Lula’s support for the Palestinian cause.” As a result of all these wrong decisions Farhat believes that most segments of society no longer trust his decisions and this is a sufficient reason why the embassy cannot be moved.
Bolsonaro could not afford to ignore key Arab trade partners when taking the decision to transfer the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem. The $10 billion per year in sales to Arab countries prove that what Brazil gains from Arab countries by far exceeds the benefits it receives from Israel.
“I think that we will witness a change in the Arab arena as well as a change in the Brazilian arena because everyone has unanimously agreed and witnessed a period of frustration decline and collapse in Brazil as a result of Bolsonaro´s wrong choices” Farhat explains.
“Yes. It will happen. Let us just do it in a smart way” Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo said about the embassy move.
The situation is very different here in Brazil than in America. Bolsonaro’s step will not change anything on the ground as long as the Brazilian state does not follow this move” Farhat concludes.
– Eman Abusidu is MEMO’s correspondent in Brazil.
