This is a few months old, and frankly, it is a bit of grandstanding, but I just found it, and thought it was worth mentioning.
Rightly or wrongly, Palestine is now being destroyed, even as we speak. Like it or not, that is fact. Yet, Lula of Brazil wants a FREE TRADE agreement with the Palestinians?
BRASILIA – Brazil has put into effect a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority that has been waiting for ratification for more than decade, in a show of support for the Palestinian people.
“The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbours,” Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said on July 9 in a statement.
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Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Mr Ibrahim Al Zeben, called Brazil’s decision “courageous, supportive and timely”.
The large Palestinian community in Peru is thought to exceed 30,000, part of a vast Palestinian diaspora across Latin America that some estimates place around 700,000 people. As with any diaspora, though, it is hard to put a precise number on all Latin Americans of Palestinian origin, because for more than a century—accelerated catastrophically by the Nakba in 1948, when some 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist forces—this diaspora has been growing but also integrating. People have changed names and even religions, just as Argentina’s president in the 1990s, Carlos Menem—born to a Syrian family and raised as a Muslim—converted to Christianity. Mahmouds have become Manuels; Arabic has in some cases been forgotten. Some simply still identify as Palestinian but primarily as part of the country—Peru, Chile, Argentina—they have been citizens in for generations.
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Chile’s diaspora community is by far the largest in Latin America. With half a million Palestinians in Chile, it is the largest community of Palestinians outside of Palestine and the cities and refugee camps of neighboring Arab countries. In Argentina, I was told the issue of putting a number on the population is complicated because many Palestinians—along with Lebanese, Syrian and other Arab immigrants—are, confusingly, often simply called “Turcos,” because everyone arrived originally under the same Ottoman passports. Arab migration to Latin America goes back some 150 years, with the first major wave from what was then the Ottoman Empire between roughly the 1860s until the start of World War I. New waves of migration followed in 1948 from Palestine, and again from Lebanon throughout its civil war in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Most Americans are unaware of the powerful Palestinian ethnic interest groups which are found in some Latin American countries (Chile, Honduras, El Savador); however, they are probably also unaware of the massive inroads made by Evangelical Christianity in the area — and Evangelical Christianity is usually Christian Zionist.
This can lead to usually odd circumstances, such as in Brazil, where the Leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has to be somewhat constrained in his anti-Israel viewpoints, because a third of Brazil is Evangelical Christian with a pro-Israel viewpoint.
Posted on YouTube: November 6, 2023
It can be auto-translated
The Jews have had a mixed relationship with Christians in the past. Ironically, they now depend on some of them, the Evangelicals, for support.
It basically boils down to this: Evangelical Christians take seriously God’s promise to restore the Jews to the land, which they see as a portend of the soon return of Christ.
So Evangelicals support Israel, but for different reasons that the Jews would.
Jews want to “redeem the land,” build a third temple, and set the stage for the messiah.
Christians believe that Jews will build the third temple, but rather than bring the real messiah, it was harbor in a false messiah (the antichrist). Jews will then, in their desperation, have to call on Christ, which will bring about Christ’s second coming.
Christians believe that Christ left after His first coming, and will not return until the Jews admit their guilt in rejecting Him the first time.
Hoshea 5:15 I will go away and return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their straits they will seek Me. (Chabad)
Either view requires that Jews be in the land of Israel.
Latin America is de-Catholicizing. Evangelical Christianity is picking up the slack with cultural and political … and Zionist consequences.
One may hold the very erroneous idea that the Arabs in Latin America have a unified culture and presence.
Dispense with that idiocy right now.
The most outstanding group in this mix are the Maronites of Lebanon.
The Maronites of Lebanon are a group of Christian Arabs who are members of the Maronite Church – which is affiliated with Roman Catholicism – though the Maronite Church allows married men to become priests. The Maronites do not even consider themselves to be Arab.
As the Canadian-American scholar, T.B. Irving, noted:
[T]he Christian Lebanese immigrants to South America… owe much to their over‑all Arab heritage, even though many of them try to call themselves “Phoenicians”.
They Maronites feel this way, even though the Maronites in Lebanon speak Arabic, and live in an Arab culture. This attitude is a product of centuries of persecution at the hands of Muslims. Sadly, the Maronites were nearly genocided in the 19th century at the hands or rampaging Muslims, and many Maronites have a distrust of Islam.
Rather, the Maronites of Lebanon consider themselves to be the descendants of ancient Phoenicians, and will identity themselves as such.
If you know your history, the ancient Phoenicians sailed west and planted colonies in Sicily, Spain, North Africa, Corsica, Sardinia, and and possibly the British Isles.
In simple terms, the Phoenicians always looked westward, and the Maronites, likewise, looked to Europe for their inspiration, not the Arab world. The other Arabs considered the Maronites as a fifth column in their ranks. The Maronites may have seen themselves as Western-looking Phoenicians, but the Muslims in Lebanon saw themselves as Arab. This became a point of hostility between the two groups.
Today, the vast majority of Lebanese Maronites live in the Western Hemisphere. They affiliate with (Western) Roman Catholicism, not the Eastern Orthodox nor the Syrian Christian faiths.
Given that Roman Catholicism is a Western denomination, and that many Maronites have a degree of European (Roman, Greek, etc.) ancestry, the Maronites could pass for Latin whites, and could blend in almost seamlessly in South America.
This article (Click Here) vastly underestimates their numbers, but even so, they are clearly a large demographic everywhere.
The Maronites who remained in Lebanon were never really anti-Israel. In fact, some Lebanese Maronite leaders favored Zionism, as they thought it might be an ally against Islam. For those who know the bible, King Hiram of Tyre (in modern day Lebanon) was a friend of David.
Today, if Lebanon and Israel always seem on the verge of war, it is because the demographic of Muslims soon overtook the Christians. The Maronites were not happy with that development.
A subsequent civil war in Lebanon caused many more Maronites to flee.
And almost everywhere, many of the Maronites prefer to label themselves as Phoenician, and will often distance themselves from Arab causes.
This can play havoc with demographers. With lots of Maronites refusing to consider themselves Arabs, millions of Latin-Arabs are not counted.
Where the Maronites are the majority subset of Arabs in Latin America countries – or even roughly half – they tend to moderate anti-Zionist extremism among the Arab ethnics.
Brazil and Argentina have large Maronite populations, and they tend to be friendly to Israel. Do not let the present president of Brazil, Lula, fool you. He does NOT reflect the opinion of most Brazilians regarding Israel. Most Brazilians are pro-Israel.
How could it be otherwise? Brazil is one-third Evangelical Christian, who tend to have Christian Zionist viewpoints.
Where the Palestinians are the majority subset of Arabs, they can skew the foreign policy of Latin nations. Chile is an example. The very prosperous Palestinians have turned Chile’s government policies to a status that is cold toward to Israel. Below is an example.
Recalling ambassador, Chile’s president accuses Israel of ‘unacceptable’ rights violations in Gaza
Chile announces its recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations, accusing the Jewish state of “unacceptable” human rights violations in the war against the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group.
The only antidote to anti-Zionism among the Latin Arabs is either a large demographic of Maronites, or a growing Evangelical demographic in the host nation.
Guatemala is noted for this. It has a noticeable Palestinian population (1% of the nation); however, 40% of the general population is Evangelical.
Posted on YouTube: February 18, 2022
What is clear is that the Arabs do not present a unified face in Latin America. And it is foolish to think so.
The Maronites barely consider themselves Arab.
And Evangelicalism can overrule even hostile tendencies in other Arab groups.
About one-third of Brazil is what we Americans would call Evangelical Christians. And when Evangelicals reach such a demographic in society, they affect politics.
Brazil’s prior president, Bolsonaro, got baptized in the Jordan River by Evangelicals.
The last election which supposedly Lulu won was supect, but one thing is clear, Brazil is as much, if not more so, pro-Israel than America.
Over 80% of Brazilians take issue with Lula’s anti-Israel comment
Herb Keinon
February 23, 2024
[T]the Brazilian public is not following its leader [Lulu].
A CNN Brasil poll on Monday found that eight of 10 Brazilians – or 83% of those polled – took issue with Lula’s comparison. [Note: Lulu’s anti-Israel comment]
This dovetails with what one senior diplomatic official said in Jerusalem: “There is a gap in Brazil between the government and the public, with the public more supportive of Israel than the government, and this shows up in polls and in parliamentary debates.”
The CNN Brasil poll, for instance, found that 57% of the 800 respondents thought that Israel is on the right side in this conflict, while 28% sided with Hamas. Additionally, 26% said that Brazil should support Israel in this war, another 14% said the Palestinians, while 54% said the country should stay neutral – something Lula’s government is not doing. In the first two months after the war, support for Israel, as evident in various polls, was running at between 70% and 80%.
The power of Evangelicalism in Brazil is increasing.
Posted on YouTube: May 29, 2024
Brazil is having an Evangelical explosion, and it is very pro-Zionist. You will not hear this on the regular media.
