Netanyahu snubs Lula, invites Bolsonaro to Israel as ex-Brazil prez asks apex court to return passport

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is in a bind, literally. He wants to travel to Israel on an invitation by Netanyahu, but can’t, since his passport is with the authorities as he faces several criminal cases.

According to The Times of Israel, Bolsonaro has requested federal authorities to return his passport. Bolsonaro’s lawyers revealed Thursday in a statement that the former president had asked his travel to be authorised.

His passport had been seized by Federal Police during a raid that had been conducted as part of probe to ascertain whether the former president had plotted with his aides to subvert 2022 election results and whip an uprising.

The New York Times had earlier made public security camera footage that showed that Bolsonaro stayed for two nights at Hungary’s embassy in Brasilia just days after the raid and seizure of his passport.

Bolsonaro’s attorneys, however, dispelled suggestions that Bolsonaro’s stay in the Hungarian embassy was an attempt to evade arrest. In the statement issued Thursday, his lawyers argued that the former president was not looking to seek asylum and that the stay was an extension of his good relations with Hungary.

“As is public knowledge, part of political activity involves international relations as well as expanding dialogue with global leaders,” Bolsonaro’s lawyer Fabio Wajngarten said on X, formerly Twitter.

On the other hand, Netanyahu’s invite to Bolsonaro even when the latter is no more the head of State is not surprising since the two leaders have had close relations, while the Israeli prime minister and the current Braizilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have at best been antagonistic.

The snub to Silva—in the form of the invite to Bolsonaro—comes in the backdrop of him comparing Israel’s war in Gaza to the Holocaust. Israel had taken strong exception to the comment and had warned Silva that he would not be welcome in Israel if he did not apologise. Israeli foreign minister went on to slap allegations of antisemitism on Silva.

Netanyahu said Lula’s comments “trivialized the Holocaust”.