Deep Changes in Relations between Brazil, Israel And Palestine from 2019 to 2022 (Jair Bolsonaro’s Administration): A Conceptual and Conjunctural Interpretation

The main goal of this research is to analyze the development of Brazil`s relations with Israel and Palestine under Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. In this paper we consider the importance of political, ideological issues and the international context, including the weight of American interests. We concluded the analysis, stating that forces in favor of change would not have the weight to profoundly alter Brazilian policy toward the Middle East. Thus indicating a scenario in which, without excluding the possibility of future changes, it was evaluated that even in the Temer administration had prevailed the search for balance. With important exceptions, but limited. In this paper to be discussed at 2022 WCJS, the goal is to understand the conceptual and conjunctural reasons, from a long-term perspective, of what motivations led to radical change, in the period considered, from 2019 to 2021, Bolsonaro administration. Conditions for the consolidation or not of this policy in the future will be only assessed by the end of the 2020s. To this goal, we start from the assumption that, in fact, relations between Brazil, Israel and Palestine have changed strongly, favoring Israel. Our hypothesis is that, during Bolsonaro’s administration, so-called ideological interests began to prevail. Overlapping interests, intertwined with international logics, particularly areas of the American establishment, with high visibility during Trump’s administration, and in parts of the Israeli establishment, prevailing in Netanyahu’s government. We will discuss that the Brazilian government seems to give up, in the period researched, a strategic vision linked to long-term structural goals, such as international and Latin American insertion. As theories of foreign policy formulation suggest, Brazilian politics can be classified as having entered a shaky terrain, paving the way for unexpected changes, corresponding to level four of the Hermann scale. In seeking to understand this evolution conceptually and factually, we will outline the profoundly negative consequences, in our assessment, for the States and peoples involved.