From enemy to friend? Brazilian ex-president's son makes promise to Israel
As Brazil's right-wing frontrunner, Flávio Bolsonaro pledges to reverse hostile policies and restore his father's Israel alliance.
As someone who grew up at the heart of Brazil's turbulent public arena, Bolsonaro the son is seen by his supporters as the natural heir to his father's path and ideology – not just in name, but also in a cohesive and clear worldview. Jair Bolsonaro gave his son his blessing from within the compound of the Federal Police headquarters in Brasília, the capital, where he is confined in solitary confinement after being sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Through the stitching together of a rather bizarre indictment that attributed to Bolsonaro the father nothing less than an attempted insurrection, and with the help of compliant judges, the current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, succeeded, along with his people, in removing their greatest rival from the public arena. Now they will have to face his son, and Flávio also knows that in this battle, the leftist government will again not hesitate to use any means.
"Lula was previously convicted as the leader of a crime organization, which stole billions from Brazilian public funds," Flávio Bolsonaro reminds us in an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom. "Nevertheless, today he sits again in the president's office after being acquitted in a suspicious manner. Today, Brazil suffers from widespread violence, with 25% of Brazilians living in areas controlled by crime organizations. Lula's government is at the center of the scandal involving the theft of pension benefits from retirees of Brazil's social security institution, in which Lula's son is accused of receiving bribes totaling 25 million reais (approximately $5 million). More than 40 million families depend on a government allowance of 600 reais ($120) just to have food at home, and the government uses state mechanisms to pursue and imprison political rivals. Brazil is no longer a democracy."
Not only do the right-wing presidential candidates think so. A host of international bodies and Western governments have expressed concern about the loss of Brazil's democratic character under Lula. The erosion of political rights is so severe that, unusually, a rare consensus has formed between human rights organizations identified with conservatism and those identified with the left. Everyone recognizes the problem and points to the authorities' tendency to curtail freedom of expression and turn the justice system into a weapon aimed exclusively at political rivals. The "Democracy Index" of The Economist magazine calls Lula's country a "flawed democracy," in complete alignment with Bolsonaro's complaints.
Like his father, Flávio Bolsonaro is identified with a staunch conservative line, an emphasis on national sovereignty, a fight against crime and corruption, and opposition to what he sees as a hostile takeover of Brazilian democracy by legal and ideological elites on the left. Over the years, he has not hesitated to confront powerful institutions and has presented himself as a direct voice of a broad public that feels excluded from traditional political discourse.
When discussing his willingness to stand his ground and confront powerful actors, it should be noted that, in Flávio's case, this extends beyond politics. About ten years ago, the man proved he possessed unusual courage in other situations as well. When he noticed during a random drive in Rio de Janeiro that a nearby car was being attacked by two armed robbers, Flávio Bolsonaro and his bodyguard charged at the armed thugs. They managed to chase away the robbers, and Bolsonaro's shots, who holds a licensed pistol, even hit one of them. No less than six bullets hit his car's windshield, but both he and the bodyguard emerged from the confrontation unharmed.
Q: The legal proceedings and imprisonment of your father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, have sparked fierce controversy. Do you see them as political persecution, and how has this affected your decision to run for president?
"This is clear political persecution – not just against my father but against millions of Brazilians. The illegal arrests, censorship, and persecution have reached unprecedented dimensions in our history. Brazil is currently an exceptional state, with almost no space for opposition. My father was convicted of an impossible crime – an attempted coup without weapons, when he was no longer president, while he was staying in the United States, supposedly using elderly people, mothers, and religious people – and all this after appointing army commanders who were also approved by Lula. This is a grotesque farce that breaks records even compared to a long series of illegal acts by the current regime, which has led Brazil to an exceptional situation. My father was convicted by his political enemies – Lula's former lawyer and former justice minister, who declared that 'Bolsonaro is the devil on earth'- after he helped Lula get elected while serving as president of the Supreme Electoral Court and tilted the system against Bolsonaro. This entire mechanism was built to pursue and imprison political rivals. My candidacy is a direct result of this persecution. After the main opposition leader was kicked out of the race, I was forced to step into his shoes so that millions of Brazilians would have a chance to choose. I hope the international community pays attention to Brazil, because we cannot allow the largest country in Latin America to be held hostage by a regime that deprives rights."
Q: Critics claim that the justice system in Brazil has become politicized. Do you share this concern, and how do you intend to restore public trust in the rule of law?
"Yes. Some call it politicization or 'judicial activism,' but these are whitewashed terms for sheer tyranny. In our case, some people in the Supreme Court commit illegal acts to eliminate the opposition. The most prominent case is Judge Alexandre de Moraes – a serial violator of human rights who acted with one goal in mind – eliminating the opposition in Brazil."
"Big Alex," as Supreme Federal Court Judge de Moraes is called in Brazil, is the doomsday weapon that was activated against Bolsonaro the father. In fact, he is the one who sent him to prison, and if that's not enough he also led to the outlawing of the social network X (formerly Twitter) in Brazil. In a move unprecedented even by the standards of totalitarian regimes, de Moraes imposed a fine of 50,000 reais ($10,000) per day on anyone who uses a VPN to bypass the ban and access X. Such a step did not occur to Putin or Xi Jinping.
Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk accused de Moraes of blatant and repeated violations of the constitutional rights of Brazilian citizens, and in response, the judges of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court ordered the opening of a criminal investigation against Musk for spreading hate speech, inciting violenc,e and a series of other accusations pulled from thin air. If this is how they dare to treat Musk, an American citizen, imagine their power over ordinary Brazilian citizens. In August 2024, de Moraes simply threatened to arrest and throw into jail the employees working at Twitter's Brazilian office.
In July 2025, the US imposed sanctions on him and other Brazilian Supreme Court judges. In September they were expanded to also include the notorious judge's wife. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, stated firmly at the time that "the political persecution led by Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes against Jair Bolsonaro created a system of persecution and censorship so extensive that it not only harms the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens, but also exceeds the country's borders and is directed at American citizens as well." However, about a month ago the sanctions on the de Moraes couple were surprisingly canceled, without any real explanation.
A blood alliance
President Lula plowed deep furrows not only in the justice system. He changed Brazil's foreign policy from end to end and transferred it to the classic tracks of the left – opposition to the US and Israel, and embracing all those who oppose them, from Russia to Iran, Venezuela and Hamas. In one of the low points, Brazil officially joined South Africa's petition against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, claiming genocide in Gaza. A year later, Lula succeeded in sinking even lower when he announced Brazil's withdrawal from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Flávio Bolsonaro does not hide his disgust with these moves by Lula and his gang.
Q: How in your view has Brazil's international standing changed in recent years, especially in relation to Western democracies and Israel?
"Brazil has become a pariah in the international arena. Current foreign policy is aligned with the entire dictatorial garbage heap of the radical left. Antisemitism and hostility toward Western values are the foundational lines of the criminal organization that seized control of Brazil. Support for terror, identification with tyrannical and despotic regimes around the world, and enthusiastic support for global restrictions on freedom of expression – all these stand at the heart of the foreign activity of Lula's Workers' Party."
Latin America is in an ongoing ideological struggle between right and left. Due to its size and influence, Brazil has traditionally been considered a country that leads others after it. The question is where it will lead them now?
"Brazilians understand more and more that we cannot go down Venezuela's path, which has been ruled for years by a terrible dictator close to Lula. More than 8 million Venezuelans fled from hunger, poverty and persecution – and many of them arrived in Brazil. Brazilians know what they don't want – the left. The president bears the duty to defend the values of Western civilization, which are based on Judeo-Christian values."
Q: Recent events in Venezuela have worried the international community. How do you assess the situation there, and what is Brazil's role?
"I believe that sovereignty is a civilizational concept that requires a set of principles and values. Sovereignty cannot exist under murderous tyranny, as ruled in Venezuela. Those who glorify abstract sovereignty are effectively defending impunity for tyrants. Tyrannies are not sovereign – peoples are. An enslaved people is not free and therefore cannot enjoy sovereignty. If someone cannot even speak freely, how can they be sovereign? Sovereignty requires freedom above all. The West lost this ideal when it lulled itself to sleep through hollow slogans of international diplomacy in the service of professional bureaucrats. President Trump reminded the West of something fundamental – without freedom a people cannot be sovereign. What we saw in Venezuela was the beginning of liberation of an enslaved people. Unfortunately, Brazil under Lula defends the interests of tyranny, because the current Brazilian government is complicit with the criminals who hijacked Venezuela."
Q: Do you think leftist governments in the region, including Lula's government, showed excessive tolerance toward extreme regimes like the ayatollah regime in Iran?
"'Tolerance' is too gentle a word. Lula and the Latin American left are financiers, collaborators and propagandists for these regimes."
Q: How do you assess the impact of US President Donald Trump on Latin America?
"Trump is without any doubt the greatest world leader – he is strong, disruptive of conventions and determined to do the right thing. He was right to attack Iran's nuclear facilities; the world must never allow a fanatical regime that hosts terror to possess nuclear weapons. Uranium enrichment beyond 3 to 4% constitutes a clear signal of intent to produce a bomb, as even the UN nuclear agency acknowledged. The capture of the drug dealer who seized control of an entire country – the narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela – was an operation worthy of a movie, in which the forces of the United States Army again prevailed and struck a blow against the São Paulo Forum (the Latin American left-wing regimes club)."
"President Trump firmly defends freedom and deals with criminals as they should be dealt with – with a strong hand. I publicly thank him and the United States Army for the successful operation in Venezuela, and thank God that Americans chose Trump, whose moral conscience and courage restore freedom. There is no sovereignty without freedom. Maduro is no different from a drug cartel boss controlling a favela, or what Hamas does in Gaza – illegitimate leaders who slaughter their people. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves; countries with far fewer resources have succeeded in thriving. May God protect Donald Trump. We pray that after October 2026 we will establish a strong and lasting partnership with the United States – and Brazil is the missing link to defeating international criminals and terrorists in South America."
Westward from here
One of the prominent characteristics of Bolsonaro the son's positions is his warm and open relationship toward Israel. Flávio continues a clear line of support for the Jewish state, a line that stood out especially during his father's tenure as president. The entire Bolsonaro family cultivated close ties with Israel, expressed deep identification with its security struggle and stood by its side in the international arena. Under Bolsonaro the father's rule, the political partnership between Brazil and Israel strengthened, moving the embassy to Jerusalem was considered, and Brazil adopted distinctly pro-Israel positions at the UN and other international organizations.
Flávio himself frequently cites Israel as an example of a strong, innovative and determined country that guards its identity and security against external threats. In the eyes of his supporters, this view also reflects his vision for Brazil – a sovereign, proud country that does not apologize for its values.
Against the backdrop of Lula's return to power and Brazil's distancing from Israel and the Western camp, Flávio Bolsonaro presents himself as a clear alternative – a young and dynamic leader, yet simultaneously experienced, carrying his father's legacy and seeking to return Brazil to a path of strategic alliances with Western democracies, first and foremost the United States and Israel. For many in the Brazilian right, he is not just the son of a former president, but a symbol of the continuation of a broad ideological struggle over Brazil's identity.
Q: Relations between Brazil and Israel were particularly close during your father's tenure. How do you see them today under President Lula, and do you think they have suffered real damage?
"Lula is distinctly antisemitic. He is an enthusiastic supporter of anti-Israel terror organizations and serves as an agent for financing and spreading the left's anti-Israel agenda in the West. Brazil's government today is a declared enemy of Israel. Unlike my father, Lula works to turn Brazil into a hothouse for anti-Israel terrorists. Hatred of Israel is not just tolerated – it is deliberately spread by Lula and his people."
Q: If you are elected president, what concrete steps will you take to rehabilitate and strengthen the strategic partnership between Brazil and Israel?
"The embassy issue must be reexamined. I believe that moving it to Jerusalem will be an important step on the path to the alignment I aspire to. After that, I intend to sign a series of strategic cooperation agreements with Israel in the fields of technology, energy, security, agriculture and culture. Our two peoples have shared values and deep cultural and spiritual connections. I intend to take institutional and legal steps so that Brazil will once again be a central ally of Israel."
Q: Will you do what your father didn't have time to do – and move Brazil's embassy to Jerusalem?
"Yes. That will be one of the first steps I take."
From Maduro to Milei
If and when Flávio Bolsonaro takes his father's revenge and expels Lula from the presidential palace, hard work awaits him. Cleaning the stables after the leftist president and his many appointments in various government systems will not be simple. Internal security, organized crime and cartel violence trouble Brazil's residents even more than Lula's controversial moves on the international level.
Q: What will be your strategy for dealing with Brazil's acute problems?
"Public security will for the first time be the central issue in a presidential campaign. The difference between what I propose and what President Lula does is completely clear. It's no accident that Brazil's prisons celebrated Lula's victory in the 2022 elections. Let me be firm – in my administration, the police will not serve to pursue citizens for posts and opinions on social networks, but will lead a zero-tolerance policy toward crime. While the radical left insists on treating criminals as victims of society – to the point that Lula claims drug dealers are the victims of users – I begin with a very simple principle: Those who control territory through drug trafficking, terrorize entire communities and sentence families to violence, humiliation and terror – are not victims. They commit serious crimes and must be treated as such. There are repeated attempts to justify violent crime and present it as a product of poverty. This is a mistaken narrative. It disrespects millions of modest, hardworking and honest Brazilians who face enormous difficulties but never choose crime. Poverty does not create criminals; crime is a product of choice and lack of punishment. I wish for Brazil the opposite situation – I want the poor person to thrive, become wealthy, live in prosperity, dignity and security, and thus raise their family. There can be no prosperity without public security."
Q: How should crime be properly addressed?
"Violent crime rests on three pillars – drug trafficking, disarming law-abiding citizens of their weapons, and a systematic system of early release of criminals. First of all, drug trafficking. Almost every act of violent crime in Brazil has a direct or indirect connection to drugs. Drug trafficking is a central axis of violence. Second, disarming citizens of weapons. Criminals act brazenly because they know victims are defenseless. Carjackings in broad daylight, assaults in public spaces and home break-ins occur because ordinary citizens have no means of self-defense. Brazil did not adopt gun control, but imposed almost total restrictions on legal access to it – especially since 2003, with the disarmament law passed under Lula's rule, at the height of a corruption affair in which monthly bribes were paid to legislators. We were promised less weapons and less crime; the result was the opposite. Third, early release. Violent criminals with long criminal records are arrested time after time and quickly returned to the streets in the name of a false morality of 'second chance,' wrapped in fake human rights. The police do their job; the system fails – due to lax laws, judicial activism and ideological distortion among some judges and prosecutors, who treat violent criminals as victims. This is an unacceptable situation.
"The state must distinguish between cases. An occasional criminal is not identical to a brutal member of organized crime. Most Brazilians, even in extreme poverty, would never consider murder to obtain property. This proves we are dealing with organized crime and deliberate violence. My policy proposal is simple and clear – fight decisively against drug and weapons trafficking; ensure law-abiding citizens legal access to firearms; and put an end to irresponsible early release of criminals, especially those connected to organized crime.
"This exact combination, during President Jair Bolsonaro's tenure, led to the sharpest decline in murder cases in Brazil's history. As for prisons, I intend to follow successful examples such as El Salvador, where gang criminals do not quickly return to the streets. The logic is simple – a criminal imprisoned in jail does not commit atrocities against law-abiding citizens. I am well aware that many of the steps require legislative changes and support from Congress. The president can do much, but not everything. Brazilians must also vote consciously for senators and federal representatives, to ensure a parliamentary majority committed to security, freedom and prosperity. Public security is not just a police issue; it is the foundation for the economy, tourism, investments and quality of life. Without security, there is no development. With security, Brazil can finally fulfill its potential and provide a dignified future for its citizens."
Q: What is your economic vision and how will you advance growth, investments and employment?
"Reducing the state's involvement in the economy means cutting bureaucracy, lower taxes and efficient government. This is the path to making Brazil truly investment-friendly. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We must look at what works in the world – in countries like the United States, Japan and Israel – and understand that greater economic freedom brings prosperity, innovation and opportunities. My father used to say, 'With all due respect, look at what Israel has and what it is. Now look at what we have in Brazil and what we are not.' These words emphasize Brazil's unrealized potential – natural resources, from iron ores to rare metals, tourism, and diverse energy sources. Countries with far fewer resources have succeeded. Why not Brazil?"
"I favor views that recognize the state's limits and promote private initiative. There are strategic areas such as national security that require a state presence. However, Brazil cannot become a socialist state that intervenes absolutely in the economy. The state is not the main job producer, certainly not in peacetime. There is much to privatize among the hundreds of government companies, many of which have become hothouses of corruption. Brazil cannot remain large, inefficient and captive to political and ideological interests rooted in Marxism.
"Through a truly entrepreneurial vision – supporting startups, trusting our young people, and attracting international investments, especially in infrastructure and energy – we will build a stable and secure country that encourages economic activity. Free economic activity naturally leads to prosperity. Look at what Milei is doing in Argentina. Brazil's potential has been blocked due to failed political decisions in the last two decades. Of the last 24 years, Lula's Workers' Party has ruled for 17. The results are clear. This is the time for change – something that became even more pronounced following the discussions after Maduro's arrest. While the Brazilian left, including Lula himself, rushed to defend a criminal regime, we stood beside freedom, democracy and oppressed peoples. Brazil must distance itself from narco-terrorists and march alongside great democracies – Americans, Israelis, Japanese and other free nations with compatible values. Thus we will restore our international dignity, credibility, growth and hope."
"Count on us"
The name "Bolsonaro" is a significant political asset, but also a source of polarization. Flávio's success depends on his ability to be perceived as an independent political figure, with his own style and judgment. In addition, he will have to assert his authority over all of Lula's rivals. Brazil's political history demonstrates that elections are decided when the right succeeds in uniting around one candidate. Division between conservatives, liberals and nationalists has in the past given the left an advantage. Flávio Bolsonaro's success depends on his ability to be perceived as a candidate capable of uniting broad forces – not just inheriting his father's support base. But the many challenges do not detract from his confidence. "I am certain I will win," he declares. "Beyond the belief that this is God's will, Brazilians cannot endure another four years of incompetence and corruption under Lula. Brazil will be forced to choose between darkness with Lula and prosperity with Bolsonaro."
Flávio Bolsonaro's message to the Israeli public is also full of confidence and optimism. "To the people of the Holy Land – the only democracy in the region – I say, do not lose hope in the struggle for justice, freedom and defense of life. You are a great, strong people who inspire admiration and inspiration. Millions understand the legitimacy of your struggle and stand by your side with determination so that a tragedy like the Holocaust never happens again. The enemy is powerful, cruel and organized. But through faith in God, unity and moral courage, those who defend freedom and life are infinitely stronger than those who spread hatred, terror and destruction. I embrace you as a brother. Know that you can count on good Brazilians – men and women who will never forgive barbarism and terror. May God protect you, strengthen you and guide you. Count on us."
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