Stop the Wall has issued today a briefing 'Brazil’s economic and military relationship with Israel' asserting that – if Brazil continues along its current political path -, it will effectively close off every possibility for the country to be an agent of just peace whether in the region or in the Middle East.
Brazil's refusal to reject the Mercosur-Israel Free Trade Agreement and the growing Brazilian arms trade with Israel cannot be reconciled with effective support for human rights and peace.
To further underline the gravity of our concerns, Stop the Wall has also published today a new report 'Buying into occupation and war – The implications of military ties between South America and Israel', which shows how Brazil is gearing up to become the gateway for Israeli military technology and companies.
In this report we detail the military ties between South American countries and Israel and highlight that developing such a relationship with Israel will have serious negative effects for Brazil, as it:
* Links the success of Brazil's economic development to ongoing conflict and repressive actions by governments in the region and beyond.
* Ties Brazil closer to the Israeli occupation and make it more complicit.
* Risks supporting destabilizing factors within South America
Through the Stop the Wall Campaign, the farmers losing their lands to the settlements and the Wall and standing steadfast against this dispossession, send their message to President Lula da Silva: It is unacceptable to forge trade agreements with a country whose companies intrinsically profit from the settlements and the occupation. It is shocking to see Brazil rewarding the companies who build the Wall and the weapons that kill us with more and more arms deals.
In the end, Brazil must decide between dealing with Israel and its weapons or standing with the Palestinian people, between human rights and democracy or cutting military ties with Israel.