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Israel downgrades ties with Brazil after Tel Aviv's ambassador nominee refused
Brazil reportedly refused to accept the credentials of Israeli ambassador Dani Dayan, triggering the big move from Tel Aviv.
Israel on Tuesday downgraded its relationship with Brazil over the country's refusal to accept Tel Aviv's nominee for the post of ambassador to Brazil. According to a Times of Israel report, Brazil refused to accept the credentials of Israeli ambassador Dani Dayan, triggering the big move from Tel Aviv.
“After Brazil, unusually, refrained from replying to Ambassador [Gali] Dagan’s request for agrément, Israel withdrew the request, and relations between the countries are now being conducted at a lower diplomatic level,” a statement from Israeli foreign ministry was quoted by the publication.
Israel had requested to Brazil to approve Dagan's nomination but withdrew the request after Brazil refused to do so. Ties between the two countries are now at a lower diplomatic level.
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Brazil-Israel ties take another hit
Ties between Israel and Brazil have nosedived on many occasions ever since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2023.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva was declared persona non grata by Israel last year, after he compared Israel's military actions in Gaza to the Holocaust. He had called Israel's strikes in Gaza “genocide”, drawing parallels between the developments back then and the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler against the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Months later, Lula da Silva had relocated Brazil’s ambassador from Israel to another post. Frederico Meyer, the diplomat, was earlier recalled to Brazil in February, and later relocated to Geneva, Switzerland.
A similar incident in 2015 damaged diplomatic ties when Brazil refused to accept the credentials of Dani Dayan, a former head of the Yesha umbrella council of settlement mayors, as the next Israeli ambassador.
Apart from Lula's remarks, ties between Israel and Brazil hit another snag after Brazil backed South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Tel Aviv of carrying out “genocidal acts" in the Gaza Strip.
