There are more Brazilians of Arab than Jewish descent. Estimates of the size of the “Arab” community range from 250,000 to as much as 7% of Brazil´s population. This latter statistic seems exaggerated since it would result in a figure of 12.6 million while the former is probably an underestimate. The 2000 census recorded just under 87,000 Jews, a miniscule fraction of the entire population of over 180 million. Brazil´s Jewish community has been declining in recent decades due to intermarriage with Christians. A walk around a district in São Paulo like Higienopolis, which has a big community of Orthodox Jews with large families, does not give that impression but it is as fact. A prominent rabbi, Henry Sobel, whose congregation numbers around 10,000 believes that 63% of São Paulo´s Jews have no contact with any Jewish organization.
 
The ancestors of these Brazilians arrived in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries to start new lives and escape religious persecution – the Arabs were mainly Lebanese and Syrian Christians fleeing the Moslem Ottoman empire, while the Jews were mainly from eastern Europe and Russia, fleeing pogroms and anti-Semitism. It should not be forgotten, however, that there were Jews and Arabs in Brazil long before the modern mass immigration. These integrated over the centuries, leaving quite a few Brazilians with Arab and Jewish blood in their ancestry whether they are aware of it or not. (For more on this see note at end of article.)
 
“Arabs” in Power
In terms of politics, a look at the names of the members of Brazil´s Congress attests to the Lebanese and Syrian ancestry of a large number of elected representatives. The most famous politician of Arab descent is Paulo Maluf, currently in custody under suspicion of massive fraud during his time as mayor of São Paulo. Other prominent politicians of Arab descent are: Anthony Garotinho, who came third in the 2002 presidential election;  Senator Tasso Jereissati from Ceara, who is one of the PSDB leaders; Senator Romeu Tuma of the PFL from São Paulo; Michel Temer, who heads the anti-government wing of the PMDB and; Jader Barbalho, the former chairman of the Senate, who stood down in 2001 on allegations of corruption. Despite their political success, Brazil´s Arabs have not matched their counterparts in places like Argentina, Ecuador or Jamaica where presidents of Arab descent have assumed office. However, Garotinho is a plausible candidate in the next presidential election so this could change.
 
While there are some leading Jewish politicians, like Alberto Goldman of the PSDB, the Jews have tended to play a background role as advisers and administrators. For example, Paul Israel Singer is an academic whose economic works have influenced both the PSDB of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the Workers Party (PT) of president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Lula´s official spokesman, Andre Singer, is the son of Paul Singer. Cardoso´s former son-in-law, David Zylberstajn, was head of the National Petroleum Agency and oversaw the opening of the capital of  Petrobras. Several directors of the Central Bank are Jewish. Other prominent Jews include Silvio Santos, owner of the SBT television channel, Celso Lafer, foreign minister in the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government, Roberto Justus, an advertising executive who recently launched a local equivalent of the Donald Trump television show “The Apprentice”, actress Deborah Bloch, entertainer Luciano Huck and rabbi Henry Sobel. Large Jewish-owned concerns include the Klabin pulp and paper company, the Bloch publishing house and the Safra financial group. 
  
Lula Criticized for not Visiting Israel

Brazil´s Jews have been hostile to this government´s approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Lula has been criticized for not visiting Israel even though he has visited several Arab countries, including Libya which has supported terrorist acts in the past. Jewish groups criticized him for hosting a summit of Arab and South American leaders earlier this year which made a final declaration declaring that attacks against occupying powers i.e. Israel in the West Bank and the US in Iraq were legitimate. (See my article Brazil Wants to Combat Terrorism - on Arab Terms, May 25, 2005.) However, this criticism was voiced diplomatically and caused no backlash among Brazilians of Arab descent. Brazilian Jews are more relaxed than their American counterparts. For example, during the election campaign when Lula´s running mate, Jose Alencar, made the absurd suggestion that the Middle East conflict could be solved if the Israelis sold their land and moved to Africa, Brazil´s Jews were more baffled than upset. Can you imagine the effect such a declaration would have had during an election campaign in the US? Despite the small size of the community political candidates pay great attention to it and queue to address Jewish audiences, as they do with the Arab and other ethnic communities.
 
Brazilians of Arab descent have also adopted a low-profile approach to the Middle East dispute. Since most of them are Christian and two or three generations removed from the Middle East, there is not the same commitment as more recent Moslem immigrants. This does not mean there is no solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians or Lebanese refugees but the community of Arab descent has not tried to influence foreign policy towards the Middle East as forcibly as might be expected. At the same time, Brazilian governments have tended to have good relations with both sides and have never been as actively supportive of Israel as the United States, for example.
 
The civil war in Lebanon, which pitted the various Christian and Moslem groups against each other and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, did not spill over into Brazil in any significant way. In 2003, a Lebanese couple was murdered in São Paulo, allegedly by the Moslem militia Hezbollah. The husband was the nephew of General Antoine Lahd, leader of the Christian SLA militia which had helped the Israeli army during its occupation of southern Lebanon. However, the case was never cleared up and may well have had criminal origins.

In fact, Brazil became a safety zone for both Christian and Moslems. Many of the more recent immigrants ended up in the Foz de Iguaçu area where the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet. This economy of this area is based on the smuggling of goods which are often counterfeit. It is a relatively safe haven for criminals from many parts of the world, including the Middle and Far East. The administration of George W. Bush has claimed that Moslem terrorists have sought refuge in the Foz de Iguaçu region and accused Arab businessmen there of raising funds for terrorist groups. There is credible evidence that Osama bin Laden has visited the area. There may be some truth to the American claims but no hard evidence has yet been presented. Moslem groups in the Foz area say they have raised funds for humanitarian purposes in to help Lebanese and Palestinian refugees.

Terrorist Threat
Despite this lack of tension between the two communities, São Paulo´s Jews are on the alert. They recall the murderous attacks a decade ago on Jewish targets in Buenos Aires which killed over 100 people. The authors of these attacks have never been discovered although suspicion has fallen on Iranian diplomats acting in tandem with members of the Argentinean intelligence forces. Anti-Semitism has never been official policy in modern times although the government of Getulio Vargas secretly issued an instruction in 1937 preventing entry visas being issued for Jews. After the Second World War, thousands of Nazis escaped to Latin America and many of them settled in Argentina and Brazil. When Israeli commandos kidnapped Adolf Eichmann in 1962 and took him to Jerusalem, where he was executed, many Argentinean and Brazilian Jews were afraid that it would lead to reprisals against them. Nowadays, Moslem extremists rather than Nazis are the more likely threat. Schools, synagogues, clubs and buildings housing wealthy businessmen are heavily fortified with security guards, concrete barriers and steel doors. One prominent family is reported to be guarded around the clock by former members of the Israeli armed forces.
 
One concrete sign of the tolerance which not only Arabs and Jews have towards each other was seen when Lula invited a delegation from the various Christian, Jewish, Moslem and Afro-Brazilian religious communities to accompany him to the funeral of Pope John Paul in the Vatican earlier this year. Rabbi Sobel was seen leading the group together in prayer on the presidential plane.  
 
Finally, it is worth mentioning another persecuted ethnic group which fled the religious oppression of the Ottomans and has flourished here – the Armenians. The massacres the Christian Armenian people suffered at the hands of the Turks were truly horrific but, thankfully, some of the survivors found safety and a better life in Brazil, a country which always extends a welcome to foreigners.
 
Note: Another article on this subject which contains more historical background appeared on October 10 on the following sites: brazzil.com and gringoes.com. That article provides source material. 
 
© John Fitzpatrick 2005