BRAZIL (VINnews) — The Jewish community is on edge after a terror attack by Hezbollah was thwarted last week. Two suspects were arrested after allegedly plotting to target buildings linked to the Jewish community.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The pair was allegedly recruited and financed by the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group. Brazilian authorities successfully prevented the potential attack and arrested the two in São Paulo.
At the same time, 11 search warrants were executed across Brazil in an effort to gather evidence related to extremist recruitment.
In a statement from Jerusalem, the Mossad thanked Brazil’s security forces “for the arrest of a terrorist cell that acted on behalf of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.” That cell was “controlled and financed” by Iran, Israeli intelligence suggests.
The terror plot, in addition to a spike in antisemitism overall, has stirred fear among Brazil’s Jewish community,
According to the Brazilian Israelite Confederation (CONIB), complaints of antisemitism in October 2023 increased by 961% compared to 2022, from 44 to 467.
In a press release, CONIB President Claudio Lottenberg said: “Behind these numbers are children who are bullied at school…teachers who received messages saluting the terrorist group Hamas, and…many anti-Semitic comments of Nazism and death threats on social media.”
An anonymous Jewish public servant from Rio de Janeiro told the Daily Express: “This is a new situation in Brazil. We have never had to deal with terrorist attacks threatening the Jewish community. We are experiencing antisemitism for the first time here in Rio de Janeiro and people are very frightened.”