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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAL IR BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMORIM FLIES TO MIDDLE EAST AS ISRAEL 
FACES BLISTERING CRITICISM 
 
REF: 08 BRASILIA 1685 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Reactions in Brazil to the crisis in Gaza 
continue (reftel) to focus almost exclusively on the 
suffering of the Palestinian population caused by Israel's 
response to HAMAS' attacks while at the same time minimizing 
Israel's concerns over its security.   Criticism of Israel 
from political leaders, media outlets, and government 
officials, have ranged from radical to moderate (or, from 
calling Israel's actions "state terrorism" to 
"disproportionate"); pro-Israeli voices are essentially 
non-existent outside of the local Jewish community.  The 
ruling Workers Party (PT) has been the most critical of 
Israel's actions, comparing Israel's attacks to Nazism.  The 
government, led by the Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty), has 
taken a moderate tone, deploring Israel's ground incursion 
into Gaza, but consistently stressing that a viable peace 
requires the recognition of Israel's right to exist and to 
live in peace.  Itamaraty is also taking advantage of the 
crisis to stake a claim to participate in any resolution of 
the crisis, after gaining a seat at the peace table at 
Annapolis; since the crisis started, Foreign Minister Amorim 
has worked the phones with foreign capitals, organized a 
shipment of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and announced a round 
of shuttle diplomacy to Israel, the West Bank, Syria and 
Jordan that will take place from 11-13 January.  End Summary. 
 
 
------------------------------ 
Views range from radically anti-Israeli (e.g Workers Party)... 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) On January 7, the PT released an official statement 
signed by national party chairman, Federal Deputy Ricardo 
Berzoini calling Israel's actions in Gaza "state terrorism" 
for causing the death of innocent civilians.   The statement 
also rejected Israel's justification of self-defense, noting 
that "retaliation cannot be aimed at civilians."  The 
statement further compared Israel's actions to Nazism.  Other 
members of the PT, such as the head of the Chamber of 
Deputies Brazil-Arab Countries Caucus Nilson Mourao 
(PT-Acre), called Israel's actions "genocide" against the 
Palestinian people.  Mourao and Senator Cristovam Buarque 
(PDT-Federal District) met with the Israeli Embassy on 
Wednesday, January 7 to call for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza 
and for it to halt military actions. 
 
------------------------------ 
...to pro-Palestinian (e.g most news outlets)... 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) The conflict has been covered extensively by Brazilian 
media; explicit shots of dead children, lines of corpses, and 
scenes of general destruction and mayhem are frequent 
front-page fodder.  Stories have focused on Israel's actions 
and have tended to downplay Israel's efforts to minimize 
civilian casualties or Israel's efforts to provide 
humanitarian relief.  While news coverage below the fold and 
inside the paper tended to focus more on the suffering 
inflicted on the Palestinian population, opinion columns 
offered a more balanced mix of views.  Balanced coverage, 
however, usually comes when running pieces by foreign authors 
such as Thomas Friedman, rather than local pundits and 
analysts. 
 
¶4.  (U) Reaction among the large Arab community and other 
organizations that support the Palestinian cause in Brazil 
has been vocal, with protests held in Sao Paulo, 
Florianopolis, Brasilia, and others scheduled for Rio de 
Janeiro, Recife, Curitiba and other Brazilian cities, but so 
 
BRASILIA 00000043  002 OF 003 
 
 
far its protests have been small.  A protest in Sao Paulo 
gathered an estimated 400 protesters, a fairly small 
gathering considering that the Arab community in Sao Paulo 
numbers in the millions. 
 
---------------------------- 
...to essentially moderate (e.g. Itamaraty, Planalto, PSDB) 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Planalto Palace and Itamaraty have taken more moderate 
tones, with Itamaraty being the most balanced of the two. 
(Comment: Itamaraty realizes that in order to further 
Brazil's goal of enhancing its role as a player in Middle 
East peace talks it has to strike a balanced tone. End 
comment.)  Echoing the PT's criticism of Israel, President 
Lula's foreign policy advisor (and long-time PT-stalwart) 
Marco Aurelio Garcia asserted that Israel's actions "against 
civilians" amounted to "state terrorism."  At the same time, 
Garcia took pains to add that Israel is or should be 
"untouchable" and that Brazil's commitment to Israel's right 
to exist and to live in peace among its neighbors is 
uncompromising.  Further, to highlight Brazil's neutrality, 
he noted that President Lula's long-in-the-works visit to 
Israel should take place this year. 
 
¶6. (U) Since the beginning of the crisis, Itamaraty has 
worked the phones with his counterparts in European, and 
Middle Eastern capitals, and issued essentially anodyne 
statements noting Brazil's concerns over the humanitarian 
situation and calling for a ceasefire and an international 
conference involving neutral countries.  Despite these more 
moderate statements, Brazilian officials have not missed an 
opportunity to criticize the United States for failing in its 
role as a peace broker.  Both Lula and Amorim named the 
United States the key stumbling block to achieving a 
ceasefire as a result of what they have called United States' 
being reflexively pro-Israeli, an obstacle that has to be 
overcome if breakthrough is to be achieved.  Peace will be 
achieved, according to both Lula and Amorim, if "neutral" 
countries such as Brazil have a bigger role in the peace 
process. 
 
¶7. (U) Among the major four political parties, the only other 
one to have issued an official statement was the opposition 
Brazilian Social Democracy party (PSDB), which criticized the 
PT's statement, called the crisis in Gaza complex, and noted 
that Brazil has traditionally maintained a posture of 
neutrality in the conflict and that maintaining such a 
posture is important if Brazil is to act as an honest broker 
in this conflict. 
 
------------------------------- 
Staking Claim to Peace Table with Round of Shuttle Diplomacy 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Itamaraty is aggressively positioning itself to 
continue or expand on the role it gained in the peace process 
when it was invited to participate in the Annapolis 
conference in 2007.  Since the conflict started, Foreign 
Minister Amorim has been on the phone with Secretary Rice, 
with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, with the Arab League, 
EU president Barroso, and with the Foreign Ministers of 
Israel, France, Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, and Syria. 
  Brazil is also shipping 14 tons of food and medicine and 
Amorim announced plans to visit several Middle Eastern 
capitals from 11-13 January.  He will meet in Damascus with 
Syrian president Bashar al Assad and Foreign Minister Wallid 
Muallem, then travel on the same day to Jerusalem to meet 
with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, followed with 
stops in Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority head 
 
BRASILIA 00000043  003 OF 003 
 
 
Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayaad, and ending on 
the 13 January with a stop in Amman, to meet with King 
Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Bashir. 
 
 
SOBEL