Good morning! Today, we talk about Brazil’s new stance on Israel. Data from the 2022 census. And the continuing market rout.
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Brazil shows concern over provocation in Israel
In the first few days of the Lula administration, the new president and his ministers bent over backwards to mark their difference from their predecessors.
- Health Minister Nísia Trindade pledged to revoke ordinances and technical notes that “offend science,” Human Rights Minister Sílvio Almeida delivered an emotional speech telling women, black, and LGBTQ citizens they “exist and matter,” and the Environment Ministry began reshaping Brazil’s anti-deforestation policies.
Diplomacy. Silently, the Foreign Affairs Ministry is doing the same. The department scrapped an office exclusively dedicated to agribusiness (a move that offended agricultural lobbies in Congress) and issued a note marking a pivot in Brazil’s stance on Israel.
What they are saying. The ministry “followed with great concern” the visit of Israel’s new national security minister, the ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, to Temple Mount — a Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims.
- Palestinians...