JERUSALEM/RIO DE JANEIRO—“I congratulate my friend Brazilian President-Elect, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem, a historic, correct and exciting step!,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that,” Bolsanaro, who won a runoff presidential election last Sunday, wrote on Twitter.
In an interview with daily Israel Hayom, Bolsonaro repeated his pledge to move the embassy.
“Israel is a sovereign state. If you decide on your capital city, we will act in accordance. When I was asked during the campaign if I’ll do it [relocate the embassy]when I was president, I said yes, and that you’re the ones who decide on the capital of Israel, not other people,’’ the president-elect responded.
He added: “As for the Palestinian embassy, it was built too close to the presidential palace. … No embassy can be so close to the presidential palace, so we intend to move it. There’s no other way, in my opinion. Other than that, Palestine first needs to be a state to have the right to an embassy.”
He also said that ‘’Israel can count on having our vote in the U.N.’’ ‘’Rest assured that you can depend on our vote in the U.N. on almost all the issues having to do with Israeel,’’ the Conservative politician added.
Netanyahu is likely to attend Bolsonaro’s inauguration ceremony in January.