Israeli FM slams opposition leader for linking Bolsonaro’s defeat to Netanyahu

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday criticized opposition leader Yair Lapid over a tweet seemingly celebrating the recent electoral losses of pro-Israel politicians in Brazil and Serbia.

For Lapid, the two “giant friends” of Israel—Brazil’s presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and Serbia’s recently resigned President Aleksandar Vučić—are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “two associates,” Sa’ar wrote in Hebrew.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro on Sunday, has “accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, drawing a comparison to the murder of Jews in the Holocaust by Hitler,” said Sa’ar.

Lula “also claimed that 12.3 million (!) children were killed in the bombings during the war,” Sa’ar said in reference to the conflict sparked by the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Sa’ar went on to criticize Lapid for “parroting” Lula’s campaign slogan, which translates roughly to, “We defend our sovereignty and we do not accept outside interests dictating our path.” This was stated in reference to alleged external interventions in Brazil’s politics from the likes of the United States.

Bolsonaro, by contrast, pledged to move Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem as part of his election campaign, the foreign minister continued.

As for Vučić, whose political camp lost Sunday’s parliamentary election to a student-led opposition movement, Sa’ar noted: “I doubt whether Lapid has even the faintest idea of what Vučić did for Israel in the war.

“Turning one’s back on friends of Israel and fawning over those who act against it—this is a baseness of soul and a moral low, not to mention the level of foreign policy thinking on display here,” the Israeli minister added.

Earlier in the day, Lapid had posted a Hebrew-language message on X, saying, “Two more Netanyahu associates lost tonight in the elections due to a high voter turnout ... Tomorrow the people of Israel begins the repair, returning Israel to a path of hope and success.”

Following the criticism, Lapid posted another tweet to clarify his position. He wrote, “I am very unhappy with Lula’s victory. I am always in favor of the pro-Israel candidate, that’s the most important criterion. But today, being close to Netanyahu is political damage everywhere in the world.”