After spending more than a month in the United States, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro announced on Saturday that he would return to Brazil "in the coming weeks."

"There is nowhere quite like home. Brazil is a wonderful country, as we all know. I intend to return to Brazil in the coming weeks," he said.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The post Bolsonaro considers returning to Brazil in the coming weeks appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency,  which operates under the auspices of the country's foreign ministry, is set to open the mission on Dec. 15, but the facility will not have diplomatic status.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The mission will launch its operation with a visit from a group of senior Brazilian lawmakers, headed by Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and an avid Israel supporter.

"The good relations between Israel and Brazil will be underscored by the upcoming visit of a delegation from the foreign affairs committee of the Brazilian congress, which is headed by Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of the president [Jair Bolsonaro]," Modi Ephraim, head of the the Latin America Division at the Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

Honduras, another Latin American country, is reportedly engaged in "advanced talks" to move its embassy in Israel from Rishon Lezion, a city south of Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, another Foreign Ministry official said.

The talks are said to be nearing their final stages, with an official cited by the newspaper as saying that the move could come as early as the next few weeks.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

The post Brazil to open trade mission in Jerusalem appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the matter with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the 11-member team would depart in the evening to assist Brazilian authorities with search-and-rescue and wildfire operations.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitte

Israel and Brazil have strengthened bilateral ties since Bolsonaro took office earlier this year. Netanyahu made the first state visit by an Israeli leader in December 2018, days before Bolsonaro's inauguration, and then rolled out the red carpet for the Brazilian leader in April.

August saw the highest number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon since 2010, and showed a sharp increase compared to the year before.

The post Israel sends firefighters to help Brazil battle Amazon fires appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Talking at a meeting of evangelical clergymen in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, Bolsonaro, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, added that steps must be taken to ensure that nothing like the Holocaust ever happened again.

"We can forgive, but we cannot forget. That quote is mine. Those that forget their past are sentenced not to have a future," the Associated Press quoted him saying.

"It is not in anyone's position to determine who and if Holocaust crimes can be forgiven," the statement said.

Rivlin also took to Twitter after Shabbat ended to take the Brazilian president to task.

"None can order forgiveness on behalf of the Jewish people, and no interest will buy it," Rivlin said on his Hebrew-language twitter account.

"Political leaders are responsible for shaping the future. Historians describe the past and research what happened. Neither one should stray into the territory of the other," he added in English.

Early Sunday, Israeli Ambassador to Brazil Yossi Shelley published a clarification by Bolsonaro in which the president said, "When I visited Jerusalem, I wrote in the visitors' book that those who do not remember the past are destined to repeat it. So any other interpretation of my words is a matter of interest by those who want to put distance between me and my Jewish friends.

"Today, forgiveness is a personal matter, and I never intended to use the word [forgive] in a historical context such as the Holocaust, in which a brutal genocide was perpetrated against millions of innocent people," Bolsonaro stated.

Shelley told Kan News that "At no point in his speech, the president showed disregard or indifference to the Jewish suffering. … But there are those who wish to arouse suspicion of a great friend of the people and the Israeli government."

Bolsonaro's comments come two weeks after he made a landmark visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem accompanied by Netanyahu.

The Brazilian leader's visit signaled a tacit recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the holy site located in contested east Jerusalem.

Bolsonaro's visit to the site with Netanyahu made him the first foreign head of state to visit the site together with a senior Israeli official.

Wearing a kippah, Bolsonaro arrived at the Western Wall and placed a note in the cracks of the wall.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro congratulated Netanyahu for winning the Knesset election: "Bibi is a great leader and we will continue working together for the prosperity and for the peace of our people, based on our values and deep beliefs,"  he said.

Ties between Brazil and Israel increased after Bolsonaro was elected President last year. Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister to visit Brazil when he traveled there for Bolsonaro's January 1 inauguration.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.

The post Brazilian leader clarifies Holocaust remarks after uproar appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A government official told Reuters on Wednesday that no decision has been taken on the implementation of the embassy move, which could give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's standing a boost a week before the April 9 election.

"Something will have to be said about the embassy during the trip," said the official with knowledge of the matter but who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added, however, that a formal announcement might not be made during the March 31 to April 2 visit as the Israeli government had hoped for.

Israel declared Jerusalem its capital in 1949, extended Israeli law to the eastern portion of the city after the 1967 Six-Day War, and reiterated its claim to the unified city in 1980 with the passage of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel. But the Palestinians want it to serve as the capital of a claimed Palestinian state, as well. Jerusalem was to be internationalized according to the U.N.'s 1947 partition plan, and its final status is to be determined in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks according to the Oslo Accords.

U.S. President Donald Trump broke with past administrations and recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017. Several months later he established an interim embassy in the city.

In an interview with Israel Hayom after being elected president, Bolsonaro reiterated his campaign pledge to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"Israel is a sovereign state. If you decide on your capital city, we will act in accordance. When I was asked during the campaign if I'll do it [relocate the embassy] when I was president, I said yes, and that you're the ones who decide on the capital of Israel, not other people," he said. He later confirmed this in a tweet.

Visiting Brazil for the Jan. 1 presidential inauguration, Netanyahu said Bolsonaro told him that moving the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem was a matter of "when, not if."

But in an interview in February, Vice President Hamilton Mourão, a retired Army general, told Reuters that Bolsonaro's plan to move the embassy was a bad idea because it would hurt Brazilian exports to Arab nations, including an estimated $5 billion in halal food sales.

The prospect of relocating the embassy has worried Brazilian exporters who fear losing access to major Arab markets for halal meats, which comply with Muslim dietary rules.

Brazil is one of the world's top halal meat exporters, and Islamic nations Iran and Egypt are its third and fourth biggest beef buyers, according to the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association.

Bolsonaro's economic team and the country's powerful farm lobby have advised against the move. During last year's election campaign, Bolsonaro stated that Palestine is not a country and said he would close the Palestinian Embassy in Brasília.

The post Despite pledge, Brazil unlikely to start embassy move soon appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

"Of course the agricultural sector that I represent is worried," Dias told Reuters, when asked about possible repercussions for trade with Arab countries if the embassy were to be moved.

"Brazil cannot lose markets, we need to open new markets," she said.

Bolsonaro is expected to arrive in Israel on March 31 for a four-day visit, just one week ahead of the Knesset election on April 9.

In closed talks with Bolsonaro during a historic visit to the South American country in late December, the Brazilian leader reiterated to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his intention to relocate the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem.

During the scheduled visit, Bolsonaro might also officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Bolsonaro and many of his top aides have repeatedly indicated that Brazil would soon relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. But Bolsonaro has come under pressure from powerful backers in the agricultural sector to abandon the embassy relocation idea.

The Arab League has warned Bolsonaro that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be a setback for relations with Arab countries.

Such a move by Bolsonaro would be a sharp shift in Brazilian foreign policy, just as it was for the United States when U.S. President Donald Trump relocated the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in May.

Brazil has traditionally backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem, parts of which the Palestinians envision as the capital of a future state, would be seen as an affront.

The post Brazil's agriculture minister worried about Israel embassy move appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Such a move by Bolsonaro, who takes office on Jan. 1, would be a sharp shift in Brazilian foreign policy.

Ambassadors from Arab nations are expected to meet in the capital Brasília on Tuesday to discuss Bolsonaro's plan to follow U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, according to an Arab diplomat.

The letter to Bolsonaro from Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and delivered to Brazil's foreign ministry said the decision on where to locate an embassy was 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 said.

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be considered a violation of international law and the U.N. Security Council resolutions, Aboul Gheit said.

The embassy move has been praised as "historic" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who plans to attend Bolsonaro's presidential inauguration.

"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.

Brazil is one of the world's top halal meat exporters and that trade could run into trouble if Bolsonaro angers Arab nations by moving the embassy. That could hurt exports to key Middle Eastern markets for Brazilian beef and poultry producers BRF SA and JBS SA.

Halal meat is butchered and prepared as prescribed by Muslim law.

The meat exporters lobby has pressed the incoming president not to move the embassy, and he appeared to change his mind.

But 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."

The post Arab League tells Brazil's Bolsonaro Israel embassy move could harm ties appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Brazil is by far the world's largest exporter of halal meat, which complies with Muslim dietary rules. President-elect Jair Bolsonaro's plans to move Brazil's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, strengthening relations with Israel, has already upset Egypt and could soon stir trouble with other Islamic nations.

"The reaction will be given not only as an individual country but on behalf of the whole Muslim world," a Turkish diplomatic source said. "We are expecting Brazil to act with reason and not confront the Muslim world."

Brazil exports $16 billion annually to the Middle East and Turkey, with just 3% going to Israel, according to government statistics.

More than a quarter of Brazil's exports to the region are meat. Both Brazil's JBS SA, the world's top beef producer, and BRF SA, the No. 1 poultry exporter, have bet big on the growing demand for halal meat.

Brazil exports over $5 billion of halal meat per year, more than twice its nearest rivals, Australia and India, according to Salaam Gateway, a partnership between the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre and Thomson Reuters.

Bolsonaro's proposal for the Israel embassy is part of his overhaul of Brazilian foreign policy, cozying up to major powers such as the United States and undoing what he calls leftist predecessors' alliances based on "ideological bias."

Trump's decision to move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem stirred a hornets' nest in the Middle East, and the United States had few allies follow suit. Guatemala did so in the days afterward while Paraguay has since reversed a similar decision.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Bolsonaro for the plan to move Brazil's embassy, calling him a "friend."

But after Egypt abruptly canceled a visit from Brazilian diplomats and business leaders this week, Bolsonaro said his decision on the embassy in Israel was not final.

Bolsonaro has shown already he is not afraid to give an important trade partner a poke in the eye, following the example of the U.S. president, whom he openly admires and emulates in both political style and foreign policy.

Like Trump, Bolsonaro railed against China on the campaign trail. He has softened his stance since the election last month, however, amid lobbying from diplomats and executives keen to protect relations with Brazil's largest trading partner.

The pressure from the Middle East may prove blunter.

BRF Chairman Pedro Parente said on Thursday that the Israel embassy issue was "cause for concern."

"We have a very important trade with Arab and halal markets. We are confident that when a discussion of the matter involves the relevant areas – the farm, trade and foreign ministries – they will certainly reach the best solution."

BRF's halal business segment contributed a quarter of its operating revenue and nearly half of its operating profit in the third quarter.

Halal chicken represented nearly half of Brazil's overall chicken exports of $7.1 billion last year, according to Brazil meatpacking group ABPA.

"There is a $2-billion trade between Egypt and Brazil, mainly in the food agricultural sector, and within that sector mainly in beef and poultry," Egypt's Ambassador to Brazil Alaa Roushdy said.

He declined to comment on a hypothetical move of the embassy or if it could have any impact on trade.

BRF has processing plants in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to meet growing demand for halal meat. The company aims to double its output of processed products in the Gulf by 2023, its head of halal operations said at an October event.

JBS sent more than an eighth of its exports to the Middle East and Africa in 2017, second only to the Greater China region.

Representatives for JBS declined to comment on the fallout from a potential embassy move.

The Arab-Brazil Chamber of Commerce expects Brazil's total exports to a grouping of 22 Arab countries, which excludes non-Arab Muslim nations such as Iran, to swell to $20 billion by 2022, up from $13.5 billion in 2017.

Rubens Hannun, the chamber's president, added that Brazil also stands to benefit from infrastructure investment from Arab sovereign funds. UAE's Mubadala Investment Company, for example, poured some $2 billion into Brazilian commodities empire EBX earlier this decade.

"We do not want any noise in this relationship," Hannun said. "We are afraid that would open a door for the competition."

The post Brazil risks its Middle East trade with Israel embassy move appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira had been set to fly to Cairo for a three-day visit from Nov. 8 to 11 that was to have included meetings with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

But Cairo postponed the trip, citing problems with senior officials' agendas, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said Monday. Ministry insiders said no new date has been proposed, signaling Egypt's discontent with Bolsonaro's proposal.

Behind the scenes, Egyptian officials said Cairo was deeply displeased with Bolsonaro's promise, which breaks with longstanding Brazilian foreign policy in support of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

The Egyptian Embassy in Brasilia was unavailable for comment.

Bolsonaro's promise to relocate the Brazilian Embassy follows the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in May, after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the city as the Israeli capital.

Qatar also denounced Bolsonaro's decision.

A statement by the Qatari Foreign Ministry urged Bolsonaro to change his mind, saying that moving the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem "goes against international consensus" and the fate of the holy city must be decided as part of a comprehensive peace agreement.

The post Egypt shelves Brazilian FM's visit as embassy relocation plans sour ties appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.