Israel calls Brazil a ‘diplomatic dwarf’ – and then brings up World Cup humiliation

[Type Username Here]

In a statement on Wednesday, Brazil condemned what it said was a "disproportionate use of force" by Israel in its Gaza Strip offensive by pulling out its ambassador from Tel Aviv for "consultation." The country is the second country to recall its ambassador from Israel; Ecuador did so earlier in the week.

At first, the official reaction from Israel appeared sanguine. "Brazil is a friend, but we think its position is not balanced," Israel's general consul in São Paulo, Yoel Barnea, said according to the Wall Street Journal, adding that Israel should have a right to defend itself from the thousands of missiles being fired at it by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Things soon took a turn for the worse. “This is an unfortunate demonstration of why Brazil, an economic and cultural giant, remains a diplomatic dwarf,” Israeili Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Thursday, the Jerusalem Post reports. “The moral relativism behind this move makes Brazil an irrelevant diplomatic partner, one who creates problems rather than contributes to solutions.”

That insult wasn't the worst that Israel had reserved for Brazil, however. In an interview with the Brazilian media, Palmor brought up the most humiliating moment in recent Brazilian history – this summer's stunning World Cup semifinal loss to Germany.

"Israel's response is perfectly proportioned in accordance with international law," Palmor said in an interview with the Jornal Nacional TV show late Thursday. "This is not football. In football, when a game ends in a draw, you think it is proportional, but when it finishes 7-1 it's disproportionate. Sorry to say, but not so in real life and under international law."

Brazil's foreign minister, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, hit back at the "dwarf" insult. "We are one of 11 countries worldwide that have diplomatic relations with all UN members, and have a history of cooperation for peace and international actions for peace," Figueiredo said in an interviewwith CBN radio. "If there are any diplomatic dwarfs, Brazil is not one of them."

There doesn't appear to have been a comment on the 7-1 jibe yet.


Brazil, which has a relatively large Jewish population, has historically had good relationships with Israel. However, its 2010 decision to recognize a Palestinian state hurt relations between the two nations. Brazil was one of 29 countries to vote for a UN' Human Rights Council proposal for an investigation into allegations of Israeli human rights violations during the current conflict in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the vote "a travesty" and said it "should be rejected by decent people everywhere."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ion-and-calls-the-country-a-diplomatic-dwarf/

 

[Type Username Here]

Brazil played a large role in the establishment of the State of Israel. Brazil held the Presidency office of the United Nations General Assembly in 1947, which proclaimed the Partition Plan for Palestine. Ambassador Osvaldo Aranha, then head of the Brazilian delegation to the U.N., supported and heavily lobbied for the partition of Palestine toward the creation of the State of Israel. Today, streets in Israeli cities such as Beer-Sheva and Ramat-Gan, and a square inJerusalem are named after Aranha. In 2007, a street in Tel Aviv was named in his honor at a ceremony attended by his relatives and Brazil's ambassador to Israel.

Brazil was also one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel, on 7 February 1949, less than one year after Israeli Declaration of Independence. The first Israeli embassy was opened in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, then capital of Brazil, with David Shaltiel as the first ambassador.

 

[Spidey Man]

Lol at bringing up the World Cup.

Jay-Z would call that vulgar

 

[ORDER_66]

piss off your potential allies and business partners even more breh's...

 

[Type Username Here]

Basically burn Brazilian bridges because brutality beckons blame brehs

 

[zerozero]

The problem is that Israelis have a siege mentality and think the problem is that the problem is a lack of spin or PR. Nah son, the problem is your behavior.

Ever since the 80s Israel has been losing favor on the world stage.. .the United States is its last staunch ally and recent polls show young Americans aren't as likely to support Israel's actions anymore

The jig is up.

 

[88m3]

Considering Brazil has been machine gunning their own citizens to death and forcefully relocating people for the World Cup and Olympics the last few years this means a lot.

 

[The Fukin Prophecy]

The demonic jew once again overreacts...

Brazil should of hit back with an oven joke...

 

[Type Username Here]

The problem is that Israelis have a siege mentality and think the problem is that the problem is a lack of spin or PR. Nah son, the problem is your behavior.

Ever since the 80s Israel has been losing favor on the world stage.. .the United States is its last staunch ally and recent polls show young Americans aren't as likely to support Israel's actions anymore

The jig is up.

Social media helps shed light too. Twitter may be one of the most important things in human society today, as crazy as that sounds. You can make the case that twitter has allowed the spearheading of several uprisings and shed light on events with unfiltered journalism (sometimes bad).

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

fukkin hook noses result to name calling..

 

[Type Username Here]

Considering Brazil has been machine gunning their own citizens to death and forcefully relocating people for the World Cup and Olympics the last few years this means a lot.

Very good point actually. The favelas have been under siege and attack as well.

 

[Type Username Here]

fukkin hook noses result to name calling..

Aren't you doing the same thing?

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

Aren't you doing the same thing?

hence the smug face..

 

[zerozero]

Social media helps shed light too. Twitter may be one of the most important things in human society today, as crazy as that sounds. You can make the case that twitter has allowed the spearheading of several uprisings and shed light on events with unfiltered journalism (sometimes bad).

Yup. Even many journalists who otherwise would just be filing formal sounding reports -- on Twitter they go over scenes of suffering, post photographs, give off the cuff reactions ... there are shades of Vietnam to it actually, in terms of the way the media sends back images and makes people think over things

 

[88m3]

Very good point actually. The favelas have been under siege and attack as well.

And I don't feel that it makes Brazils critic invalid but they're killing and displacing their own citizens for money. No one is holding them accountable on the world stage. That's seriously wrong.
The article also glosses over the fact Brazil has had several dictatorships that were extremely fukked up and is itself a segregated society. Why is no one holding Brazil accountable for their current actions?