Moving Brazil’s Embassy to Jerusalem could hamper meat exports

Brazil’s meat industry has taken plenty of hits in the past couple of years. It all began in March 2017, when the Federal Police launched Operation Weak Flesh, uncovering a corruption scheme within the Ministry of Agriculture to defraud sanitary permits and allow big meat producers to sell spoiled products. Since then, two other police operations have been carried out, and Brazilian meat exporters have been forced to endure restrictions in several international markets.

But a diplomatic move planned by President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, which has nothing to do with meat exports, could have an even worse impact on the sector. Throughout his campaign, Mr. Bolsonaro stated multiple times that he intends to relocate the Brazilian Embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem – something he recently confirmed in an interview with conservative news outlet Israel Hayom. This would be yet another Trump-esque move from a politician to loves to compare himself to the U.S. president (who announced the relocation of the American Embassy in December 2017).

In Brazil, the move is not a demand from the Jewish community, but rather comes from evangelical leaders. Brazilian evangelicals argue that the Bible specifies Jewish people are the chosen ones, and therefore...