At least four outspoken anti-Israel candidates were defeated in the national and state elections held November 15, according to the final results just published. One of them is Pastor Elias Boaventura, former head of the Methodist University in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo State.
Boaventura signed an agreement earlier this year with Palestine Liberation Organization representative Farid Silwan to introduce courses at the university on the PLO’s struggle against Israel The courses were a failure, attracting only a dozen students. So was Boaventura’s bid for a seat in the Sao Paulo Legislative Assembly. He garnered few votes.
Airton Soares, Edson Khair and Wilson Leite Passos were defeated in their re-election races for the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia. Soares was secretary general of the pro-PLO Parliamentary League. He claimed that half the Deputies and Senators in the Brazilian Parliament are members of the League.
Only two of the 19 Jewish candidates from Rio de Janeiro won election. Reuben Medina of the Liberal Front was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies and Carlos Minc was elected on a leftist ticket to the Rio State Legislative Assembly. Minc was forced into exile during the former military regime and lived for several years in Algeria.
In Sao Paulo, two Jewish candidates, Moises Lipnik and Israel Zekcer, were elected to the Legislative Assembly. Another Jew, Alberto Goldman who ran on the Communist list, was defeated for re-election.
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