Carnival parade in São Paulo
Photo: AFP
Fearing backlash, Israel-themed Brazilian Carnival parade nixed
São Paulo samba school that originally agreed with Israeli consulate to hold parade marking 70th anniversary cites fears of Palestinian protests, scrapping months of preparation and large financial contributions.
Israel’s participation in the famous Brazilian Carnival has been cancelled on account of possible Palestinian protest, officials in the Foreign Affairs Ministry told Ynet.
In light of the carnival’s massive media coverage, the Israeli consul in Brazil, Dori Goren, decided to convince one of the São Paulo samba schools to choose Israel as a theme for their carnaval parade as a finale to the finale the celebration marking the country's 70th anniversary.
After discussing the matter with a few of the samba schools, the Aguila de Oro school have agreed to cooperate.
The Brazil Carnival (Photo: AP)
At first, a few of the schools were interested in taking the Israel theme on, having assumed it would bring large sponsorships and financial support from Jewish businessmen who are active in the São Paulo scene.
Heads of the Jewish community in the city were excited about the initiative, and the consulate even found a large donor—a businessman from the São Paulo’s Jewish community who owns Brazil’s largest computer and electronic company. He was willing to contribute an initial $100,000 for the project.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry saw an opportunity for a major PR event, but after months of preparations, it all fell apart.
The Brazil Carnival (Photo: AP)
Problems began to arise when two months ago the violence in Gaza made international headlines and sparked widespread condemnation of Israel's actions. Further issues arose when the Argentina international soccer team canceled a friendly World Cup warm-up match with Israel that was scheduled to was to take place in Jerusalem.
“As we have feared, the samba school started sending us messages signaling they were regretting their decision,” a consulate report to the foreign ministry said.
The 2017 Brazi Carnival (Photo: AFP)
“The school's management feared the loss of support, and possible Palestinian rallies or riots that might cause the school to lose points.They eventually backed away completely”, the report said.
The consulate recently learned that the Aguila de Oro Samba School had decided to focus on Brazil’s rising corruption as a theme for this year’s parade.
