Arab League to Brazil: Israel Embassy move could harm ties
Arab League's Secretary-General, Ahmad Abu Al Ghait, warns Brazilian Foreign Ministry against moving its embassy to Jerusalem after President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said he planned to follow US lead.
The Arab League has told Brazil’s right-wing President-elect Jair Bolsonaro that moving the Brazilian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would be a setback for relations with Arab countries, in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday.
Such a move by Bolsonaro, who takes office on January 1, would be a sharp shift in Brazilian foreign policy, which has traditionally backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ambassadors from Arab nations are expected to meet in Brasilia on Tuesday to discuss Bolsonaro’s plan to follow US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, according to an Arab diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.
A letter from the Arab League's Secretary-General, Ahmad Abu Al Ghait, to the Brazilian foreign ministry said the decision on where to locate an embassy is the sovereign decision of any country.
“However, the situation of Israel is not normal, seeing that it is a country that has been occupying Palestinian territories by force—among them East Jerusalem,” the letter stated.
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be considered a violation of international law and the United National Security Council resolutions, Aboul Gheit said.
“The Arab world has much respect for Brazil and we want not just to maintain relations but improve and diversify them. But the intention of moving the embassy to Jerusalem could harm them,” the diplomat said.
The embassy move has been praised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who plans to attend Bolsonaro’s presidential inauguration, according to the Brazilian’s transition team.
"I congratulate my friend Brazilian President-Elect, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem, a historic, correct and exciting step!" Netanyahu said in a statement.
Brazil is among the largest exporters of halal meat (meat that adheres to Islamic law—ed.) to the Arab world. Therefore, moving the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem could risk trade.
The meat exporters lobby has pressed the incoming president not to move the embassy, and he appeared to change his mind.
Nevertheless, the president-elect’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, speaking after recently visiting Trump advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner at the White House, said the embassy move was “not a question of if, but of when.”
