Lula’s Victory Keeps Brazil’s Embassy in Tel Aviv
The Workers Party leader defeated Flavio Bolsonaro with 51.79% of the vote, delaying a promised relocation to Jerusalem.
By Nathan Brooks ·
Luiz Inácio da Silva, known as Lula, secured his reelection as president of Brazil by defeating Flavio Bolsonaro in the October runoff. The Workers Party candidate received 51.79% of valid votes, while Bolsonaro, a member of the Liberal Party, collected 48.21%. This result halts a planned diplomatic shift that would have moved Brazil’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Bolsonaro had campaigned on a platform of closer ties with Israel and cultivated a relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After finishing ahead of Lula in the first round on October 4, Bolsonaro received a congratulatory message from Netanyahu on X. The Israeli leader expressed hope for restoring the friendship between the two nations and wished Bolsonaro a victory.
During a meeting with Jewish leaders in Buenos Aires on June 28, 2026, Bolsonaro outlined his diplomatic goals. He stated that Brazil would appoint an ambassador to Israel in 2027 and move its embassy to Jerusalem. On the same night, he praised the 120,000 Jews living in Brazil, describing them as among the brightest in medicine, industry, science, culture, and business.
Lula’s administration has taken a different approach. In January 2024, Brazil endorsed South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The following month, Lula compared the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza to the Holocaust, a remark that triggered a diplomatic crisis. Brazil’s Jewish umbrella organization, CONIB, condemned the comparison as a distortion of history. The Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires also criticized the statement.
Bolsonaro said he did not accept the election results, although the mechanism for a challenge remains unclear. Lula’s victory interrupts a trend among several Latin American leaders who have recently strengthened ties with Israel. Argentina’s Javier Milei, Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz Pereira, Honduras’s Nasry Asfura, and Chile’s José Antonio Kast have all moved to improve relations with Israel since 2023.
Colombia’s Abelardo de la Espriella, elected in May, also reversed his predecessor’s stance. He restored diplomatic ties, sent his foreign minister to open an embassy in Jerusalem, and withdrew from the ICJ genocide case. Lula’s reelection leaves the Brazilian embassy in Tel Aviv for the time being.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
