As South America continues to head South, David Bor writes me with this deeply disturbing update from Brazil.
David writes:
Yesterday,Friday (11-20) while receiving Mahmoud Abbas in Bahia one of the Brazilian States (the governor is a Jew),leftist president Lula da Silva said that Israel has to stop building in the "palestinian capital" meaning of course Jerusalem, and that Israel is the great opressor of the palestinian people. Lula also said that Israel had to stop building more settlements immediately and praised the fight of the palestinian people against the tirany that maintains them confined and segregated.
Next Monday Ahmadinejad will arrive in Brazil and will be received by Lula as a friend.
Tomorrow, Sunday, another demonstration is scheduled in Rio de Janeiro against such visit by jewish and other organizations. I will record this on film and sent it to you. . I am very worried because Lula is going the same way Chávez very quickly, and our Jewish leaders keep saying he is "a friend of the Jewish people"...
Tomorrow, Sunday, another demonstration is scheduled in Rio de Janeiro against such visit by jewish and other organizations. I will record this on film and sent it to you. . I am very worried because Lula is going the same way Chávez very quickly, and our Jewish leaders keep saying he is "a friend of the Jewish people"...
I don't who is more vile - the Jew haters or the self hating Jews.
Lula Raises Middle East Profile America's Society
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| Presidents Abbas (L) and Lula meet in Salvador. (AP Photo) |
As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares for his trip to South
America next week, concerns grow about Tehran’s influence in the
region. Ahmadinejad, who canceled a trip to Latin America back in May, visits Brazil, Venezuela, and Bolivia next week in efforts
to strengthen political and economic relations. With an ally in
Venezuela already, Ahmadinejad’s journey offers the chance for Tehran
to deepen ties with South American powerhouse Brazil. However,
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's hosting of Ahmadinejad
could lead to blowback if Brazil fails to join other global powers in pressuring Iran to curb its nuclear goals.
Ahmadinejad is not the only Middle Eastern leader traveling to South America this month. Israeli President Shimon Peres wrapped up a weeklong trip on November 17. Peres visited Argentina to attend a memorial service for victims of the 1992 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and the 1994 car bombing at the Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires that killed over 100 people. Before that, in a Brazil stop, a Peres-led delegation of government ministers, senior military officials, and business leaders signed a series of agreements with the Brazilian government, including an Israeli-Mercosur free trade agreement ratified by Brazil’s lower house of Congress. The delegation also signed pacts on extradition and tourism, as well as a $350 million deal that involves supplying Brazil with 14 unmanned drones to monitor border areas against drug and arms smuggling.
But caution against Brasilia buddying up to Tehran was also cause for the Peres trip—the first by an Israeli president to Brazil in four decades. Peres also became the first Israeli leader to address the Brazilian Congress, when he called Iran a “danger to global peace” and warned against Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and rising Iranian and Hezbollah activity in South America. “It is Iran's growing influence in Latin America that has prompted Israel to start paying attention to the region,” writes Frida Ghitis in World Politics Review. “Latin America is fast becoming a proxy for the not-so-cold war between Iran and Israel. And it is that proxy status that is raising the region's profile in the Middle East, potentially making it a much bigger player on other issues.”
On the heels of Peres’ trip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sojourned in Salvador de Bahia. After meeting with Abbas for two hours, Lula said the “expansion of West Bank settlements must be frozen.” Lula added that Washington should no longer broker the Middle East peace process. “As long as the United States is trying to negotiate peace there won’t be peace,” said the Brazilian president, who suggested the United Nations should take over talks. He also took the opportunity to reiterate support for the UN’s reform. Brazil, which gained a two-year term on the UN Security Council, has advocated for becoming a permanent member.
Lula’s move to insert Brazil into the center of Middle East policy comes as the country experiences a much-heralded rise. The cover of The Economist’s November 14 issue showed Rio’s statue of Christ the Redeemer blasting off. Brazil has made an impressive economic recovery in the face of global financial turbulence, won a 2016 Olympics bid, and established itself as an energy giant through a major oil discovery. COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth warns that with greater clout comes the need for accountability. “Brazil’s growing influence on the global stage means that leaders with whom the president of Brazil chooses to meet gain greater credibility and, indeed, legitimacy through those meetings,” says Farnsworth. “This is occurring just at the same time as much of the rest of the international community is attempting to work to isolate Iran.”
Ahmadinejad is not the only Middle Eastern leader traveling to South America this month. Israeli President Shimon Peres wrapped up a weeklong trip on November 17. Peres visited Argentina to attend a memorial service for victims of the 1992 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and the 1994 car bombing at the Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires that killed over 100 people. Before that, in a Brazil stop, a Peres-led delegation of government ministers, senior military officials, and business leaders signed a series of agreements with the Brazilian government, including an Israeli-Mercosur free trade agreement ratified by Brazil’s lower house of Congress. The delegation also signed pacts on extradition and tourism, as well as a $350 million deal that involves supplying Brazil with 14 unmanned drones to monitor border areas against drug and arms smuggling.
But caution against Brasilia buddying up to Tehran was also cause for the Peres trip—the first by an Israeli president to Brazil in four decades. Peres also became the first Israeli leader to address the Brazilian Congress, when he called Iran a “danger to global peace” and warned against Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and rising Iranian and Hezbollah activity in South America. “It is Iran's growing influence in Latin America that has prompted Israel to start paying attention to the region,” writes Frida Ghitis in World Politics Review. “Latin America is fast becoming a proxy for the not-so-cold war between Iran and Israel. And it is that proxy status that is raising the region's profile in the Middle East, potentially making it a much bigger player on other issues.”
On the heels of Peres’ trip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sojourned in Salvador de Bahia. After meeting with Abbas for two hours, Lula said the “expansion of West Bank settlements must be frozen.” Lula added that Washington should no longer broker the Middle East peace process. “As long as the United States is trying to negotiate peace there won’t be peace,” said the Brazilian president, who suggested the United Nations should take over talks. He also took the opportunity to reiterate support for the UN’s reform. Brazil, which gained a two-year term on the UN Security Council, has advocated for becoming a permanent member.
Lula’s move to insert Brazil into the center of Middle East policy comes as the country experiences a much-heralded rise. The cover of The Economist’s November 14 issue showed Rio’s statue of Christ the Redeemer blasting off. Brazil has made an impressive economic recovery in the face of global financial turbulence, won a 2016 Olympics bid, and established itself as an energy giant through a major oil discovery. COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth warns that with greater clout comes the need for accountability. “Brazil’s growing influence on the global stage means that leaders with whom the president of Brazil chooses to meet gain greater credibility and, indeed, legitimacy through those meetings,” says Farnsworth. “This is occurring just at the same time as much of the rest of the international community is attempting to work to isolate Iran.”
Brazil donated US$ 10 million to the Palestinians in 2007, which are being used in different projects, mostly social ones, and it also donated US$ 10 million in March this year for the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip.
"It was the largest contribution given by a non-Islamic developing country," said president Lula. The Brazilian head of state had already met with Abbas on Thursday, during dinner offered by the governor of the state of Bahia, Jacques Wagner.
