Source: Brazil Relocates Ambassador From Israel After Months of Tension – BNN
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva relocated Brazil’s ambassador from Israel to another post after months of diplomatic tensions over the country’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Lula’s government said in an official decree that it had appointed Ambassador Frederico Meyer, who it had previously recalled to Brazil in February, to a role in Geneva, Switzerland.
The move marks a further cooling of relations between the two nations. Brazil has not had an ambassador in Tel Aviv since Meyer left amid a spat over Lula’s comments comparing Israel’s military actions to the killing of the Jewish population during the Holocaust.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Lula unwelcome in the country and demanded apologies from both the president and Meyer.
Israel’s foreign affairs ministry said it had not yet received an official notification about the change, and that it will summon Brazil’s charge d’affaires for a meeting on the matter Thursday.
Lula has yet to go as far Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, a fellow South American leftist who cut off diplomatic ties with Israel after accusing it of “genocide” earlier this month. Petro last week ordered his government to open an embassy in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah.
The official decree does not name a replacement for Meyer. Brazil’s charge d’affaires to Israel will lead the embassy for an indefinite period.
由于以色列在加沙地带的军事行动导致巴以外交关系紧张数月，巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉将驻以色列大使调至另一个职位。 卢拉政府在一份官方法令中表示，已任命弗雷德里科·迈耶大使担任驻瑞士日内瓦职务，此前曾于二月份将其召回巴西。 此举标志着两国关系进一步降温。自从迈耶因卢拉将以色列的军事行动与大屠杀期间屠杀犹太人相比较的言论引发口角而离开后，巴西就没有驻特拉维夫大使了。 本杰明·内塔尼亚胡总理的政府宣布卢拉在该国不受欢迎，并要求总统和迈耶道歉。 以色列外交部表示，尚未收到有关调职的正式通知，并将于周四召集巴西临时代办就此事举行会议。 卢拉还没有达到哥伦比亚古斯塔沃·佩特罗的程度，他是一位南美左翼人士，本月早些时候指责以色列“种族灭绝”后切断了与以色列的外交关系。佩特罗上周命令其政府在巴勒斯坦行政首都拉马拉开设大使馆。 官方法令没有任命迈耶的替代者。巴西驻以色列临时代办将无限期领导大使馆。
