Netanyahu says Brazil will move embassy to Jerusalem

Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is planning to move his country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

Netanyahu said Bolsonaro told him that it’s a matter of “when, not if” he will move the embassy.

{mosads}“Bolsonaro told me it was ‘when, not if’ he moves the embassy to Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, according to Reuters.

“We attach enormous importance to Brazil, and Brazil in the context of Latin America. This heralds a historic change,” he added.

Bolsonaro is currently hosting world leaders ahead of his inauguration, which will be held this week. The president-elect has previously said he plans to move the embassy to Jerusalem, despite opposition from some in Brazil. 

“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,” Bolsonaro said on Twitter last month.  

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.

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) November 1, 2018

A senior official from Brazil’s next government, however, told Reuters that the country has not decided whether to move the embassy.

If Bolsonaro were to move the embassy to Jerusalem, it would come after President Trump did the same for the U.S. Embassy earlier this year.