The son of the Brazilian president and foreign minister summed up a successful visit to Israel: "We signed contracts with the Weizmann Institute, Hadassah and Ichilov" • Minister Arauho: "Aware of Israel's concern for Iran, want a continent free of corruption"
Brazilian President Bolsonaro, Son and State Secretary // Photo: Reuters, AFP
Eduardo Bolsonaro, a member of Knesset for the province of San Paolo and the son of incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, stated in an exclusive interview with Israel Today that he would work to define Lebanese Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
A few hours before he took off for his country, the third son of the Brazilian president summed up another visit to the Holy Land, together with a delegation headed by Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo.
He praised Israeli technology and showed cautious optimism about the fight against Corona, which claimed more than a quarter of a million lives in his country.
"We signed several contracts with the Weizmann Institute, with Hadassah and with Ichilov," Bolsonaro, 36, said in a conversation at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
One of the things we more surveyed the delegation was the Israeli development called EXOCD-24, a nasal spray that demonstrated impressive results against the corona virus in the first experiments conducted in late February by Ichilov Hospital.
The interview was then devoted to a topic close to the heart of the Bolsonaro family - the security issue, since his father, the leader of the huge South American country at present, had completed his military service as a major.
"Hezbollah cannot be considered a routine political body, and like the FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) guerrilla movement, it is not a political arm." These are criminals, terrorists, "Bolsonaro said. A car bomb exploded at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and two years later another attack, against the Amia Jewish community building.
"There is an important Hezbollah presence in the border triangle (Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil)," he said.
"They operate there not in terrorist activity but more in money laundering and trade," he explained.
"Unprecedented Relationships"
"Hezbollah is very strong in Venezuela. They have a safe haven there under President Nicholas Maduro. Suffice it to remember that his deputy was Tariq al-Ashmi, a member of Hezbollah, and that cannot be denied."
Following this, Bolsonaro said he would work to define Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and even admitted that he had talked about it with Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. "I think we should have done it already, but as soon as I return I will put the issue back on the table.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo stressed in a one-on-one interview with Israel Today that "the excellent visit focused on the fight against the corona."
"The meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Ashkenazi prove that there is an unprecedented relationship between Israel and Brazil and this translates into concrete things," Arauho added.
He said that there were security agreements between the two countries since 2019 and in this context stated that "we want a continent free from terrorism and corruption."
When asked about Iran, Foreign Minister Arauho said that the issue did not come up in talks with Israeli officials but reiterated that he was aware of the concern that the issue has in the country "and also in the Gulf states."
