Intervention by the Brazilian Foreign Office forced the municipal authorities of Rio de Janeiro to cancel the signing of a twin city pact with Tel Aviv, only hours before the ceremonies were to be held with Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Lehat and his wife attending. The action was attributed here to pressure by the oil-producing Arab states on the Brazilian government.
Twin city pacts are mutual gestures of friendship that have symbolic significance but nothing to do with politics. The pact with Tel Aviv did not require the approval of the Brazilian government, Israeli Foreign Ministry sources noted. They hinted that an unofficial protest will be lodged with Brazil.
The initiative for the sisterly gesture came from Rio’s Mayor Marcos da Sylva when he visited Tel Aviv last year. Lehat was at the airport in Philadelphia, Pa. en route to Brazil, along with Tel Aviv Town Clerk Yaacov Hadar, when news came of the cancellation. Lehat reportedly wanted to return to Israel but the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem urged him to continue his trip because cancellation would only further strain the relations chilled by the Brazilian action. The Rio municipality also begged Lehat to come.
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