Brazilian Jews Support Israel

The Jewish community of Brazil has publicly expressed its support for Israel’s military action in Lebanon to remove the terrorist PLO from that country.

In a message to President Jaco Figueiredo, who had condemned Israel’s operation in Lebanon, the Jewish Confederation of Brazil, the representative organization of Brazilian Jewry, and all other principal Jewish organizations, declared that attacks against Israel around the world were “hypocritical” and that comparing Israel to Nazi Germany was “irrational.”

The letter alerted the President to the escalation of anti-Semitic propaganda in the country disguised as anti-Zionism since the war began June 6. Thousands of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist stickers have been pasted up on walls of buildings in many streets in Soo Paulo.

Meanwhile, two of the country’s three leading newspapers, Jornal ## Brasil and O Estado de Soo Paulo, have consistently supported Israel’s action in Lebanon. The third newspaper, O Globo, has adopted a stance of “neutrality.” There have been no aditorials or letters to the editor condoning or condemning Israel since the war began.

In another widely circulated newspaper, Folha de Soo Paulo, which routinely carries anti-Israeli reports from Lebanon and offers comments favorable to he PLO, the former Ambassador from Brazil to Israel, Barreto Leite Filho, defended Israel.

He wrote: “The condemnation to death of the Palestinian terrorist movement has been sealed by the same countries which years ago had, in a solemn meeting, designated the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Who can censure Israel for having destroyed the PLO if its friends and allies are refusing to save it?”