A group of Jewish leaders will go to Brasilia Tuesday to protest to top government officials against Foreign Minister Azeredo da Silveira’s recent attack on the Brazilian Jewish community for allegedly supporting Israel over Brazil. The delegation, representing the Brazilian Jewish Confederation, will be received in the Capital by Gen. Golvery do Couto e Silva, Chief of Cabinet of President Ernesto Geisel.
Da Silveira attacked Brazilian Jews for their vigorous condemnation of the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee on Oct. 17 equating Zionism with racism–a resolution supported by the Brazilian delegation to the UN.
In an interview published in the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, the Foreign Minister said the Jewish reaction was “anti-patriotic” and that “Brazil cannot accept that some Brazilians feel more tied to their racial origin than to Brazil proper, Brazilians are placing themselves against Brazil and in favor of their racial origins,” he charged. In the same issue that published the interview, the newspaper editorially assailed the Foreign Minister’s charges as a “gratuitous insult…of racist substance.” Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry sources in Brasilia have confirmed Brazil’s refusal to alter its vote when the anti-Zionist resolution comes before the General Assembly plenary. A spokesman for the Ministry said Brazil has never changed its attitude “under U.S. pressure.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
