After the persecution of his father and a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Flávio Bolsonaro sat down for an exclusive interview with Channel 14. The son of Brazil’s former president, a candidate for president in upcoming elections and a staunch supporter of Israel, addressed the controversy surrounding his father, his meeting with Trump—and delivered a warm message to Israel.
2+Bolsonaro addressed the controversy surrounding his father, Jair Bolsonaro, after Brazil’s electoral court ruled him ineligible for political office until 2030 on grounds of abuse of power—a decision that sparked widespread public outcry among his voters, who saw it as political persecution. “President Bolsonaro was the target of lawfare. Brazil’s electoral court is made up of several members who are from Brazil’s Supreme Court—that’s how it works in Brazil,” he said.
He added: “They violated the balance in this contest by making decisions in favor of Lula and against President Bolsonaro on a very large scale. Part of the mainstream media also worked very hard against President Bolsonaro and dehumanized his image. They omitted the positive things the administration did—and there were many positive things he did. He was the target of a great false plot.”
2+The younger Bolsonaro, who admires President Trump and met with him several weeks ago at the White House, dreams of the day he’ll be president himself and renew the special relationship with Israel. He promised: “I will not only renew these relations, but also expand them. I want every Israeli to come here to Brazil. I will appoint an ambassador to Israel who will truly promote commercial ties with Israel.”
He continued: “This historical connection we have—there are more than 120,000 Jews living in Brazil. These are many people who need to be better cared for. When a country treats the Jewish people living within its borders badly—it harms itself, not just the Jewish people. This will change with us, and you can be sure of that.”
2+He also pledged to move Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem: “This will happen at the beginning of the government, as fast as possible—continuing what President Jair Bolsonaro started. This is a personal commitment from my heart, to complete this move.”
Bolsonaro also praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and promised to invite him for a visit to Brazil if elected president. “It’s a relationship of respect and appreciation. I imagine it’s not easy to be prime minister in a country like Israel, but he is an exceptionally intelligent and brave person, and I ask God to continue giving him wisdom to defend the State of Israel well and do his part to continue living in peace.”
In a moving closing message, he said: “I want to tell all of you that very soon our commercial, diplomatic and friendly relations will be restored. Starting next year we will receive Israel’s ambassador, we will expand agreements and create the greatest agreements in the world in all fields, because Israel has much to contribute to Brazil—and Brazil has much to contribute to Israel.”