Brazil's new President Lula da Silva sacked his country's ambassador to Israel, Gerson Ferenc, in a move described by the Hebrew media as a "surprise" for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli website “Ynet” reported that Brazil's ambassador to Israel was removed from his post on Tuesday in one of the first moves by Brazilian President Lula da Silva since taking office.
The website noted that Ferenc was appointed by Lula's predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, as a political appointee in early 2018 but his dismissal may signal a shift in policy toward Israel.
Upon the formation of the new government, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said that under Lula's government, which took power at the beginning of the month, Brazil "will cooperate with Arab countries, foremost of which is Palestine."
Ynet stated that "the dismissed ambassador had a role recently in the fact that his country's representatives at the United Nations did not vote in favor of the Palestinian proposal to obtain the opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories."
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