Israel criticized Brazil for allowing an Iranian naval vessel to make a port call in Rio de Janeiro last week, calling it a “dangerous development.”

Israel’s foreign ministry said last week that Brazil “should not grant any prize to a maligned state, responsible for numerous violations of human rights against its own citizens, executing terror attacks all over the world and proliferating weapons to terrorist organizations all over the Middle East.”

Israel called Iran a menace in the region and said Tehran “executed dozens of terror attacks against ships.”

“This is the time to follow the steps taken by the EU, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, and many other countries, and single out the Iranian regime as what it really is: a terror entity,” the statement read.

The decision by Brazil to allow the two warships to dock in its main port was seen as a rebuke to the U.S. and Israel. The Associated Press reported that the IRIS Makran and IRIS Dena ships have been granted permission to dock in Rio until 4 March.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the Makran has the ability to launch lethal drones. The Dena has also been under sanctions since it was part of the same surface action group.

“These ships have, in the past, facilitated illicit trade and terrorist activities. Brazil is a sovereign country, but we strongly believe that these ships should not dock anywhere. So far, there is no other country in the hemisphere that has authorized it,” Elizabeth Bagley, the American Ambassador to Brazil, said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for sanctions on Brazil and said the decision to allow the ships to dock was “a direct threat to the safety and security of Americans.”

Marcos Tenorio, the Brazilian political analyst, told the Middle East Monitor that he believes Brasília made the correct decision and exercised its sovereignty “over its territorial sea and ports. The United States’ request for Brazil to send the Islamic Navy away was an improper interference in its internal affairs.”

Lula maintains a good relationship with Iran and both countries have an ongoing trade relationship.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told USNI News, that Lula’s decision was a diplomatic win for Tehran.

“Expect more, not less of these displays by Iran as it looks to use the Makran to project strength and convey political enmeshment not isolation,” he said.

TRENDPOST: The hypocrisy of the U.S. on the matter is astounding considering its provocations in the Taiwan Strait. (See “U.S. WARSHIP SAILS THROUGH TAIWAN STRAIT, CHINESE FORCES PUT ON ALERT” 10 Jan 2023, “BIDEN SAYS U.S. WILL FIGHT CHINA IF IT INVADES TAIWAN, WHITE HOUSE BACKTRACKS” 24 May 2022, and “WWIII: U.S. QUADRUPLES TROOPS IN TAIWAN IN PREPARATION FOR WAR WITH CHINA” 28 Feb 2023.)

Ned Price, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said that Washington is discussing the issue with Brazilian partners and that it wants to ensure Iran “is not able to acquire a foothold, is not able to take advantage of others in our hemisphere.”

“It is certainly not the case that the Brazilian government, the Brazilian people would want to do anything that would assist, that would aid a government, a regime that is responsible for a brutal crackdown and violent repression against its own people,” he added.

The AP noted that Iran also considered the irony. The report said Iranian officials “portrayed the trip as challenging America’s influence in its own backyard—long a point of contention as Tehran continually criticizes the presence of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the region, which patrols the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the strategic Strait of Hormuz.”

The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the years-long clandestine war between Iran and Israel. (See “NETANYAHU IS PREPARING FOR AN ATTACK ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES AFTER SECRET MEETINGS” 28 Feb 2023 and “NETANYAHU DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTACK ON IRANIAN MILITARY FACILITY” 7 Feb 2023.)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed in the past to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Israel is also hypocritical in its Human Rights allegations against Iran. (See “TOP TREND 2023, MIDDLE EAST MELTDOWN: ISRAEL RAMPS UP DEADLY RAIDS ON PALESTINIANS; GUNMAN RETALIATES IN FRONT OF SYNAGOGUE” 31 Jan 2023, “UN RESOLUTION: ISRAEL FACES INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION FOR PUNISHING PALESTINIANS” 24 Jan 2023, and “UN TASKED TO RULE ON ISRAEL SETTLEMENTS OF PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES” 10 Jan 2023.) 

Israel’s latest crackdown is hardly mentioned in the Western media because those who criticize any Israeli policy are quickly written off as anti-Semitic.

We remind Trends Journal subscribers that in the 1967 six-day war, Israel invaded and seized Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, and the Syrian Golan Heights, expelling some 300,000 Palestinians from their homes, while gaining stolen territory that was three and a half times its original size. To date, some 670,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. They violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declined Iran’s request for the ships to dock in Rio before his trip to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden.