Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

40 Brazil Ex-Diplomats Slam Pick of Settler Leader as Envoy

RIO DE JANEIRO — A group of 40 retired Brazilian diplomats signed a statement against Israel’s controversial appointment of former settler leader Dani Dayan as ambassador in Brasila.

The career diplomats believe that protocol was bypassed since it was not preceded by any communication with the Brazilian Foreign Ministry or any presentation of Dayan’s credentials for an agreement on the appointment.

“We consider it unacceptable. The rupture of the diplomatic practice seems to have been on purpose,” the retired diplomats wrote in the statement dated Friday. “We support the Brazilian Government’s position on this issue and wish that the current episode is quickly overcome, so we can, together, strengthen the bonds between the two countries.”

The diplomats oppose remarks by Senator Marcelo Crivella, who declared last week that rejecting Dayan would convey a pro-boycott message and “the fact that he defends settlements in the West Bank is a weak motive for such discourtesy and so much political inability.”

Israel is expected to withdraw the name of Dani Dayan to be its ambassador to Brazil, ending a five-month diplomatic row. The Brazilian government has remained silent on the choice of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to signal an official rejection of Dayan, who may assume the Israeli consulate general position in Los Angeles or New York.

The 40 diplomats opened their statement by remembering the memory of Ambassador Luis Martins de Sousa Dantas, one of Brazil’s two Righteous Among the Nations recognized by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum for saving hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust, and Oswaldo Aranha, the Brazilian diplomat who presided over the United Nations session that created the State of Israel in 1947.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.