Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president-elect wants to move Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Israeli prime minister calls relocation ‘historic, correct and exciting’

Jair Bolsonaro won presidential election earlier this week (Reuters)

Brazil’s far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has said he plans to move his country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The change would follow the Trump administration’s decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, effectively recognising the city as the Israeli capital in a symbolic gesture which has angered Palestinians.

The recently-elected leader tweeted on Thursday: “We intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that.”

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 war, as the capital of any future state.

Israel claims the whole city, including the eastern sector home to Jerusalem’s most important religious sites, as its eternal capital.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately welcomed Mr Bolsonaro’s proposal. The Israeli leader spoke to the Brazilian leader earlier this week and invited him to visit the country.

“I congratulate my friend Brazilian president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem, a historic, correct and exciting step,” said Mr Netanyahu in a statement.

Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton has described Mr Bolsonaro as a “like-minded” leader and said his recent victory was a “positive sign” for Latin America.

The former army captain won Brazil’s presidential election earlier this week, beating Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad in the second-round run-off.

If Mr Bolsonaro follows through on his pledge to move the embassy, Brazil would become only the third country in the world to have its official diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, after the US and Guatemala.

Paraguay briefly moved its embassy to Jerusalem, only to move it back to Tel Aviv after president Mario Abdo Benitez was elected in August.

Mr Bolsonaro courted further controversy on Thursday by appointing judge Sergio Moro as his justice minister.

Mr Moro jailed the far-right leader’s chief political rival following the “Operation Car Wash” corruption probe. Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sent to prison, stopping him from running against Mr Bolsonaro.

“His anti-corruption and anti-organised crime agenda, as well as his respect for the laws and the constitution, will be our guide,” said the president-elect.

The new minister said it would be hard to give up being a federal judge after 22 years, but he hoped his new government role would mean “consolidating the advancements against crime and corruption … and remove any risks of going backward”.

Supporters of the Workers’ Party have argued the investigation and imprisonment of the former president was part a purge of left-wing leaders.