Mariana Schreiber-@marischreiber-BBC News Brazil in Brasilia
A distant issue of the daily life of most Brazilians has gained central space on the agenda of the new government: the transfer of the Brazilian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
If President Jair Bolsonaro‘s promise is fulfilled, Brazil will abandon a historical position of search for equilibrium in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians to stand alongside the United States and Guatemala, the only two countries that have transferred Their embassies, both in May 2018, thus recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The city is considered sacred by Jews, Christians and Islamists, and claimed as capital by the Palestinians as well.
What is behind such a radical move by the new government? Bolsonaro has argued that he wants to “deepen relations” with Israel and argues that the Israeli people have the right to define where their capital is. As seen in the United States, however, the major stakeholders in change have other reasons for pressing government: the transfer is a priority demand of evangelical leaders who understand that the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel Meets Biblical precepts.
The group has weight in the electorate that led Bolsonaro to the Palácio do Planalto and growing representation in Congress-will be 84 deputies and seven senators from February, according to the calculation of the DIAP (interunion Department of Parliamentary advisory).
“Most evangelicals are favorable to the change of capital. So, we’re meeting a longing for a large part of the population, it’s not in my head, it’s not my personal thing, “Bolsonaro said in an interview with the SBT Channel last Thursday.
“The decision (to change the embassy) is taken, is missing just define when it will be implemented,” he said.
In the face of Bolsonaro’s promises, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited Brazil in late December and prestigious presidential inauguration-it was the first time an Israeli head of state came to the country.
‘ Israel and the Return of Christ ‘
A scholar of the relationship between politics and religion, the professor at the University of North Texas Elizabeth Oldmixon explains that the support of evangelical leaders to Israel stems from their belief that “the biblical promise of God of the Holy Land to the Jewish people is literal and Eternal “.
For these Christians, supporters of “Dispensationalism”, the return of the Jews to the Holy Land-that is, the establishment of Israel-is necessary for the return of Christ.
“When the Second Coming (of Christ) occurs, there will be a tribulation marked by war and natural disaster, during which Christ would defeat evil, and the Jewish people would accept Christ as the Messiah,” the teacher emphasizes in explaining the belief of part of the evangelicals in Article on the topic.
The issue in the United States is especially important for white evangelicals, Oldmixon highlights. According to the Pew Research Center Research Center, this group is one-fifth of the American electorate and one-third of those who sympathize with President Donald Trump’s Republican Party. In the 2016 election, he received 81% of the vote in this segment.
No wonder, the opening ceremony of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a 70-year anniversary of Israel’s creation, had sermons from two important American evangelical pastors. Robert Jeffress, of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, made the opening prayer, while John Hagee of the Christian ministry united by Israel held the closing.
Leaders want change until April
Evangelical leaders heard by BBC News Brazil defend the transfer of the Brazilian embassy until April, the month in which the celebrations for the independence of Israel begin. Federal Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante (DEM-RJ), pastor at the Assembly of God Victoria in Christ, said that change is a priority agenda. If it does not materialize until April, it promises political pressure and popular mobilization.
“Our motivation is (more) a principle of faith, than political issues. For us, who truly believe in the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed in the same blessings, “he explained.
Pastor Jane Silva, president of the Brazil-Israel community, is confident that the Bolsonaro government will soon recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. She also counted on having a possible address for the Brazilian embassy in the Germanic colony, a prime area of the city, which intends to indicate to the government.
“It is a property rented today by another international institution and it will be unoccupied. A VIP location, easy access, good parking “, he said.
The pastor understands that the change of the embassy will not be decisive for the coming of Christ, since this would depend, in his biblical reading, of the return of all the Jews to Israel, but considers fundamental decision for Brazil to be “blessed”.
“At most in April I believe there will be exchange (from the embassy). It’s a campaign promise, he’s got no going back, “he said too.
Jane Silva maintains permanent articulation with Brazilian congressmen. Last year, he produced a command in honor of the country with the signing of 70 parliamentarians-one for each year of the existence of Israel. Bolsonaro, then Federal deputy, signed for 1955, the year of his birth, as Mayor Rodrigo Maia, signed for the inaugural year of Israel, 1948.
Months later, in August, the shepherdess was next to one of the president’s sons, deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, at the time he handed a symbolic key from Brazil to Israeli congressman Robert Ilatov, in another celebration of the 70 years of Israel, this time In Belo Horizonte.
The proximity to Israel and the defense of the exchange of embassy, however, is not a consensus among all the evangelical groups in Brazil. Magno Paganelli, who has just completed a doctoral thesis at USP on Pentecostal Tourism in Israel, emphasizes that “this attention to all that involves Israel is more pronounced among the churches that we call Neopentecostals, emerged since the end of the decade of 1970 “.
In this group, he emphasizes in particular the Universal of the Kingdom of God, the fullness of the throne of God, and reborn in Christ. The older ones, such as Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists, give “moderate attention” to this issue.
According to Paganelli, the “middle evangelical” does not understand the current reasons for the embassy not to stay in Jerusalem.
“There is widespread confusion about the modern state of Israel and the Jews of biblical times, and these evangelicals today are unable to distinguish one thing from another,” he said.
“What a great number of these evangelicals know, and still partially and enviezedly, is that Israel has been chosen by God in the past and that there are promises to be fulfilled in the life of ethnic Israel, that is, the Jews who believe in the Messiah. How many Messianic Jews are there in Israel today? You don’t know why the number is small. There it is, in my view, part of the confusion made by Brazilian and American evangelicals who are enchanted by all that has the Jewish brand acritically, “he adds.
Skepticism
Despite the proximity of the new government to Israel, there is still skepticism both here and there about the prospect of change being realised.
In the evaluation of Professor Arie Kacowicz, a specialist in Latin America from the Department of International Relations of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the transfer of the embassy will not occur because Brazil has economic interests and relations with Arab countries and with Iran.
Historically, Brazilian governments have successively renewed their support for negotiations that establish two states, one Israeli and one Palestinian. During the administration of Michel Temer, the country supported UN resolution against the transfer of the American Embassy.
“Brazil remained equidistant between Israel and its neighbours. I think that (the recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital) is not going to happen. It will be a radical change in Brazilian foreign policy (if it happens), “replied Kacowicz to the report, by email.
The viability of the measure is seen with caveats even within the Palácio do Planalto. To BBC News Brasil, the Minister of the Secretariat of Government, General of the reserve Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, said that possible practical consequences of this decision can prevent the transfer.
International analysts believe that the change could lead to trade retaliations from Arab countries against Brazil, which is the leader in exporting halal meat in the world, bought and consumed by Muslim countries. In addition, they see the risk of extremist attacks on Brazilian embassies abroad.
“These are things that would be raised, considered, in assessing the realization of the idea (of changing the embassy). All SSO can even make it unfeasible (the transfer). So I guess people have to be a little more calm. Between the idea and the reality, you have a very long distance, “replied Santos Cruz, when asked about these risks.
