This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000658 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2015 
TAGS: PREL KPAL KSUM PTER XF XM BR
SUBJECT: JEWISH SOCIAL PROGRAMS, CONCERNS WITH ARAB-SOUTH 
AMERICA SUMMIT HIGHLIGHT AMBASSADOR'S OUTREACH IN SAO PAULO 
 
REF: A. BRASILIA 574 
     ¶B. BRASILIA 564 
     ¶C. 02 BRASILIA 4581 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN DANILOVICH, Reasons 1.4 (b & d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Introduction and Summary:  During a two-day visit to 
Sao Paulo to meet that city's Jewish leadership, Ambassador 
witnessed the community's highly effective social welfare 
programs and delivered messages of support for the 
commonality of ties between the U.S., Israel, and Brazil's 
Jewish community.  A key issue on the minds of interlocutors 
was the Arab-South America Summit, and the Ambassador 
received an in-depth perspective on it from B'nai Brith do 
Brasil President Abraham Goldstein and the Chief Rabbi of Sao 
Paulo's largest synagogue, Rabbi Henry Sobel. (Other Jewish 
leaders gave opinions about the Summit during the 
Ambassador's two day visit; their views are well reflected by 
Goldstein and Sobel.)  Goldstein and Sobel believed the 
Summit, particularly with the currently flawed draft Summit 
Declaration, will have a negative impact on Brazilian 
citizens of both Jewish and Arab origins.  While relations 
between Brazilian Jews and Arabs, they affirmed, remain 
close, the Summit, both feared, could become a catalyst for 
latent anti-Semitism in Brazil. Jewish leadership in Sao 
Paulo recognize USG efforts to prevent the Summit from doing 
harm to the Mideast peace process and will do what they can 
to assist.  Meanwhile, there is a feeling the GOB may be 
handling its Summit negotiations through the prism of its own 
UNSC ambitions.  Goldstein asked that President Bush and 
Secretary Rice convey the concerns of the Jewish community to 
 
SIPDIS 
President Lula and Foreign Minister Amorim.  The Ambassador 
assured his interlocutors that this was already being done. 
End Summary 
 
¶2.  (U) Over the course of two intense days, the Ambassador 
engaged with leaders of Sao Paulo's Jewish community and 
volunteer organizations and witnessed first hand the impact 
of the community's extensive social welfare efforts for both 
Jew and non-Jew. (For more on Jewish social NGOs, see ref C.) 
 At Albert Einstein Hospital, arguably Latin America's 
premier clinical and medical research facility, the 
Ambassador observed the success of targeted philanthropic 
support to create an outstanding institution for which all 
Brazilians can be proud.  Before Sao Paulo's leading Jewish 
luminaries at Hebraica, the largest Jewish club in the world, 
the Ambassador described the commonality of interests between 
the United States, Israel, and Sao Paulo's Jewish community. 
His visit culminated with the delivery of the Sabbath evening 
sermon at Sao Paulo's largest synagogue, Congregacao 
Israelita Paulista, using the 140th anniversary of President 
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address to expound in Lincoln's 
own words on emancipation and redemption of a divided nation 
-- a timely theme not lost on the congregants.  Throughout 
his two-day visit, the Ambassador was received warmly and 
graciously. 
 
PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE 
--------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Beginning with a visit to one of "Ten Yad's" 
(literally "helping hand" in Hebrew) soup kitchens during a 
busy lunch hour, the Ambassador received an intense 
introduction to the Sao Paulo Jewish community's extensive 
volunteerism. Executive Director Rabbi David Weitman and 
Coordinator Terezinha Davidovich explained that Ten Yad 
operated 11 social service programs geared primarily to Sao 
Paulo's impoverished elderly and children.  In addition to 
soup kitchens, providing over 2000 lunches daily, Ten Yad 
also runs a "meals on wheels" for almost 200 sick and elderly 
shut-ins, a weekly "dairy kit" delivery service to supplement 
family diets, a distribution service for "cestas basicas" for 
poor families, and child care centers throughout the city. 
Despite capacity constraints at its current facilities, Rabbi 
Weitman explained that Ten Yad continues to grow and attract 
new volunteers. 
 
¶4.  (U) From Ten Yad the Ambassador visited a day care and 
academic enrichment center run by Unibes (Uniao 
Brasileiro-Israelita de Bem-Estar Social).  Begun early in 
the Twentieth Century to assist Jewish immigrants, Unibes 
President Dora Bremmer explained how the volunteer-run 
organization has transformed itself to meet Brazil's current 
social needs, including creches and education programs, 
health care clinics, and a day program for mentally 
handicapped adults and the elderly poor. Virtually all 
clients, she noted, are non-Jewish.  One of the most 
interesting aspects of the Unibes tour was a vocational 
training program for preparing youth for employment within 
Sao Paulo's hotel sector.  Both the Ten Yad and Unibes visits 
received extensive coverage from Sao Paulo's Jewish press. 
 
COMMUNITY FEARS ARAB-S.A. SUMMIT WILL HARM JEWISH INTERESTS 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Throughout the two-day visit, interlocutors expressed 
fears about the upcoming Arab-South America Summit to be held 
in Brasilia May 9-11.  In order to receive a focused 
explanation of the community's concerns with the Summit, the 
Ambassador met with B'nai Brith do Brasil President Dr. 
Abraham Goldstein and Rabbi Henry Sobel, Chief Rabbi of the 
Congregacao Israelita Paulista. Their views reflected closely 
those of other Jewish leaders. Both men were well-informed as 
to the Summit's current state of play and deplored the 
direction apparently being taken by the GOB.  In their view, 
GOB efforts to date reflected the government's highly biased 
approach in favor of the Arabs. Rabbi Sobel went further, 
adding that President Lula was no friend of Israel or the 
Jewish people. Because of this attitude, Sobel argued that 
Brazil was not an ideal candidate for a permanent seat on the 
UNSC. 
 
B'NAI BRITH SEES RISING ANTI-SEMITISM 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Despite generally cordial ties among Brazil's diverse 
religious and ethnic groups, the B'nai Brith President saw 
evidence that anti-Semitism in Brazil was on the rise. 
Goldstein specifically cited the situation for Jews on 
Brazilian campuses where Jewish students face worsening 
anti-Israel peer pressure and slanderous anti-Jewish 
comments.  An important contributing factor to the 
anti-Semitic behavior, both Goldstein and Sobel believe, is 
the pro-Palestinian attitude of the Lula administration and 
the ruling PT party.  Sobel described Lula himself as 
anti-Semitic -- an attitude, Sobel felt, held by Lula even 
before he was a successful candidate for president.  Sobel 
explained that Lula's anti-Semitism was masked behind a 
facade of anti-Zionism and pointedly noted that this was in 
clear contrast to Catholic Church doctrine that advocacy of 
anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.  Anti-Semitic views, both men 
asserted, also existed within senior leadership of the 
Ministry of External Relations (MRE), and Sobel specifically 
cited MRE Secretary General Samuel Guimaraes.  While B'nai 
Brith International is following the situation closely, 
Goldstein does not believe the time is yet ripe for a big 
public splash on this topic, for example an op-ed piece in 
the mainstream Brazilian press. 
 
¶7.  (C) According to Goldstein, Jewish members of Lula's 
inner circle, Press Secretary Andre Singer and Secretary for 
Economic and Social Development Jacques Wagner, had recently 
attempted to smooth over any misunderstanding between Lula's 
PT-led government and Jewish leadership over Foreign Minister 
Amorim's recent Mideast trip.  However, the attempted 
rapprochement by Wagner and Singer, Goldstein pointed out, 
failed to hide the Lula administration's negative attitude 
towards the Israeli Government.  Regarding Amorim's snub of 
Israel during his Middle East trip, Dr. Goldstein belittled 
GOB excuses that there was no time during the eight nation 
trip to stop in Jerusalem and agreed that the last minute GOB 
decision to allow Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Olmert to 
meet President Lula on March 8 appeared to be in reaction to 
the negative blowback from Amorim's trip. (Amorim is in 
Africa this week and will not meet Olmert.)  Skeptical that 
an Amorim visit to Israel would occur in June/July as 
promised by the GOB, Goldstein added that a planned visit to 
Israel by Commerce Minister Furlan might also be delayed 
until 2006. 
 
PREPARING FOR THE SUMMIT 
------------------------ 
 
¶8.  (C) Goldstein explained that B'nai Brith is working off a 
plan of action in the lead-up to the Summit.  B'nai Brith is 
seeking to organize all relevant Jewish organizations, 
including the World Jewish Congress and many within the 
American Jewish community, to react vocally to the Summit. It 
is also reaching out to Brazilian allies, the Catholic 
Church, and even to the Arab and Lebanese Christian 
communities to promote inter-religious harmony in the face of 
possible negative rhetoric. The President of the National 
Conference of Brazilian Bishops said he would issue a 
statement of support by the end of April. Although one key 
purpose of the Summit is the promotion of Arab-South American 
commercial ties, Goldstein belittled this aspect of the 
Summit and pointed specifically to a continued Arab boycott, 
particularly by Saudi Arabia, against Jewish-owned Brazilian 
enterprises.  This is the type of issue, he said, that should 
be addressed by the GOB in its deliberations with the Arabs. 
During the Olmert visit, B'nai Brith also intends to deliver 
a positive three part message to the GOB: excellent business 
opportunities exist with Israel and should be expanded, 
poverty can be reduced with Israel's technological help, and 
Brazil can serve as a reference point for how diverse 
communities can live together in peace.  Meanwhile, Goldstein 
believes Israel itself has to do more lobbying with the GOB 
and not automatically assume Brazil is a lost cause. 
 
¶9.  (C) Reflecting on a possible Brazil press campaign, 
Goldstein said that while the editor of "O Estado de Sao 
Paulo" promised "positive" editorials, other mainstream 
newspapers are perceived to have a pro-Palestinian tilt and 
are not likely be very helpful.  He discarded media outlets 
that are consistently against the government and discounted 
the effectiveness of having luminaries from the previous 
government, such as former President Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso and former Foreign Minister Celso Lafer (himself 
Jewish), write articles against the current administration. 
Getting the anti-Lula PSDB to oppose the government was "too 
obvious," Goldstein commented.  B'nai Brith would continue to 
try to identify those in the Brazilian press who might make 
positive editorials, and had the added benefit of not being 
Jewish.  Goldstein remarked about the paucity of press about 
the Summit generally, anywhere in South America.  This, he 
suspected, perhaps reflects the GOB's success in keeping the 
polemics of the debate under wraps. 
 
¶10. (C) Looking at the larger picture over the next few 
weeks, Goldstein believes at least two South American 
countries, Colombia and Chile, would oppose anti-Israel 
language in the final draft Summit declaration.  He is unsure 
of Argentina and is resigned to Venezuela's virulent support 
for any anti-Israel language.  No doubt, Goldstein added, the 
Summit was discussed among the South American Presidents last 
week in Uruguay. Goldstein conceded that with the help of 
recent events in the Middle East, Amorim had apparently made 
some progress to soften the harshest draft declaration 
language, but since the Foreign Minister still remains 
fixated on delivering the release of Brazil's one hostage in 
Iraq, his negotiations with the Arabs may not be tough enough 
to achieve what B'nai Brith would consider success. 
 
¶11. (C) A successful effort, B'nai Brith feels, would secure 
minimum references, if any, in the Summit declaration to 
(anti-Israel) UNSC resolutions . Ideally, the Summit would 
return to its original focus on economic, social, and 
cultural issues, but Goldstein acknowledged that was asking 
for too much.  Goldstein and Sobel agreed with the Ambassador 
that the chorus should be broadened, and they agreed to 
approach Sao Paulo's Lebanese community.  Both also supported 
the USG effort to include democracy building among the 
Summit's principal pillars. 
 
¶12. (C) Comment:  Not only was the Ambassador warmly welcomed 
by Jewish organizations and leaders who were ecstatic that 
the Ambassador would give up so much of his time to visit, he 
also received highly vocal support for USG objectives towards 
the Arab-South America Summit and the Mideast peace process. 
Interlocutors also favored expanded outreach to other 
communities in Sao Paulo to share ideas about the Summit and 
other issues.  B'nai Brith and others are very aware of the 
state of play of Summit preparations and will, over coming 
weeks, seek to put pressure on the Brazilian Government for a 
stronger stance vis a vis the Arabs.  However, there is also 
a sense that, as evidenced by FM's recent trip to the Middle 
East, the GOB will continue to possess a "tin ear" for 
Israel, even as it seeks the best possible spin for its own 
ambitions for a permanent UNSC seat -- perceived by many as 
the GOB's most important foreign policy objective -- no 
matter what the cost. 
 
Danilovich