Brazil kept promise to support Israel at United Nations

Departing from Brazil’s decades-old stance of voting against Israel at the United Nations, son of President-elect Jair Bolsonaro pledges Brazil’s support at the diplomatic arena.
• Incoming president has vowed to be pro-Israel.

By Sandra Rejwan

 

The symbolic victory against Hamas at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, in which 87 nations supported a draft resolution condemning Hamas, marked another milestone: Brazil took an unprecedented step by siding with Israel and the U.S.

The U.S.-sponsored text would have for the first time condemned the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, which controls Gaza. Although it won a plurality of votes in the assembly, it failed to win the required two-thirds majority.

UN vote on Hamas fails to attain 2/3 majority, Dec 7, 2018. – UNTV screenshot: IsraelandStuff/PP

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro and a member of the national parliament, tweeted: “This is the first time Brazil votes in favor of Israel and against the terrorist groups, this is a victory! Brazil will no longer be a diplomatic dwarf.” Bolsonaro said that this new diplomatic posture was a result of his father’s statements and the efforts behind the scenes to influence the country’s foreign policy in the transition period (Bolsonaro is set to take office in January 2019).

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A month ago the president-elect told Israel Hayom that his incoming administration will depart from Brasília’s pro-Palestinian stance. He further said that it would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and that Israel “can count on having our vote in the U.N.” He added: “I know that often the vote is almost symbolic, but it helps to define the position a country intends to take. Rest assured that you can depend on our vote in the U.N. on almost all the issues having to do with Israel.”

Brazil’s new President-elect Jair Bolsonaro – Photo: agenciabr

After Thursday’s vote, the incoming president tweeted a picture of himself on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, with the caption “Good Night Everyone!”

Bolsonaro ran as an anti-establishment candidate who would take Brazil on a new path, including on foreign policy. His latest pro-Israeli statements can be credited, in part, to the work of Israeli Ambassador to Brazil Yossi Shelley.

 

View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/12/09/brazil-delivers-on-promise-to-vote-with-israel/