Brazilian Jewry has reacted with shock and indignation to a crudely anti-Zionist joint statement issued by the PLO and the Methodist University of Piracicaba, the World Jewish Congress reported here.
The PLO and the university are united in the struggle “against Zionism and for national and social liberation which the Brazilian and Palestinian peoples are engaged in,” according to a statement signed by the university rector, Elias Boaventura, and the PLO representative, Farid Sawan. The university has some 8,000 students and 300 teachers.
The agreement signed with the PLO is headed “Cultural Cooperation and Interchange” and starts with a joint statement asserting that the university and the PLO are “engaged in the democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist struggle.”
The document speaks of “exchange of information, educational, scientific, technological and cultural experiences,” and foresees extra-university activities with the “participation of workers movements, in the country as well as in town, and in the struggle in which the Brazilian and Palestinian people are involved in favor of independent economic developments and social progress.”
The Confederacao Israelita do Brasil, the central representative body of Brazilian Jewry and the WJC affiliate here, has reacted sharply and its denunciation has been published in the main news dailies:
“Since the unfortunate anti-Zionist vote in the United Nations, which has been repudiated by all free peoples in the world, the PLO has been penetrating into union, political, university and service organizations, and this activity results blatantly in violent anti-Semitism,” the Confederacao statement declared.
Continuing, it warned Brazilian public opinion that, “however contrived the justification for the agreement may seem, the fact in itself is not to be underestimated. “The PLO avails itself of its one technology, a long experience in international terrorism.
“The signing of the agreement represents a further stage of PLO activism in Brazil, where its penetration has been significant. Although without diplomatic status, the PLO has maintained a very visible representation in Brazil since 1979. Brazilian foreign policy regarding the Middle East has had a consistent tilt toward the Arab world, one of the major markets for its armaments industry.”
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