Published: 9 June 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
ACROSS THE GLOBE all manner of figures, from the political fringes to the mainstream, are flooding social media and TV shows with their take on why the coronavirus, fake or real, was concocted by the meddling Jew. It was Soros, it was the Mossad, it was the Rothschilds trying to tank the economy. Their posts feel like standing in a European town square during the Black Death.
But in Brazil, led by Jair Bolsonaro, a man more concerned with protecting his sons from a corruption probe than safeguarding his citizens from a global health crisis, you see a different manifestation.
It locks in from both sides of the political spectrum like a vice: From the left, Jews are deemed responsible for putting in power a petulant, authoritarian ignoramus who downplays a pandemic because he’s incapable of dealing with it, while powerful voices from the right tell Jews that if they don’t support Bolsonaro (who’s "doing his best" to fight the coronavirus) then they "ain’t Jewish."
Brazil is now second only to the United States in confirmed COVID-19 cases (558,000 and rising). That makes perfect sense if you observe how closely the president in Brasilia is echoing his conspiracy enthusiast colleague to the north.
Besides shoving the Trump-touted "miracle drug" chloroquine so hard down the public’s throat that it pushed his health minister to resign (after he fired the previous one for contradicting him on social distancing, all in the span of six weeks), Bolsonaro also borrowed one of Trump’s most controversial plays, and then ran it a step further.
Bolsonaro doesn’t just support anti-lockdown demonstrations by tweet, he attends them, accompanied always by a standard bearer carrying three national flags: those of Brazil, the United States and, yes, Israel.
FULL STORY As Coronavirus rages in Brazil, Bolsonaro’s embrace of Israel puts Jews at risk (Haaretz)
Photo: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro at a protest, replete with Israeli flags, Brasilia, May 3 (Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)
