According to West Jerusalem, a terrorist organisation was preparing an assault against South American Jewish and Israeli objectives.
The Israeli government asserts that Brazilian security services were assisted by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in thwarting a plot to launch a terrorist assault against Jewish targets in the South American nation, which resulted in the capture of a local cell affiliated with Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement on Wednesday saying, “Mossad thanks the security forces in Brazil for the arrest of a terrorist cell that acted on behalf of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah to carry out an attack against Israeli and Jewish targets in the country.”
According to a statement released by Brazil’s Federal Police, two anonymous individuals have been arrested in Sao Paulo on terrorism-related charges. Hezbollah, Mossad, or Israel were not mentioned in the announcement. In the states of Minas Gerais, Brasilia, and Sao Paulo, they also carried out eleven search and seizure warrants. According to police, the crackdown was intended to stop a terrorist attack and look into the possibility that Brazilians were being recruited to carry out similar schemes within the nation.
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According to authorities, suspects prosecuted under Brazil’s anti-terrorism legislation are not eligible for pardons, amnesty, or leniency and are detained without bail pending trial. If found guilty of organising terrorist acts, a person may get a prison term of up to fifteen and a half years.
The Israeli government asserted that the Brazilian cell was a part of a global network of operators with ties to Hezbollah and accused Iran of organising and funding the planned strikes.
According to Netanyahu’s office, “the terrorist organisation Hezbollah and the Iranian regime continue to operate around the world to carry out attacks against Israeli, Jewish, and Western targets against the backdrop of the war in Gaza against the terrorist organisation Hamas.”
Terrorist plans have not been common in Brazil’s past. Ten members of the Islamic State (previously known as ISIS) were detained by Brazilian authorities on suspicion of plotting terrorist acts in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Olympics. One of the foreign intelligence services that worked with the Brazilian government on that case was Mossad. According to the World Jewish Congress, there are over 92,000 Jews living in Brazil, making it the tenth-largest Jewish population in the world.
Late last month, US FBI Director Christopher Wray alerted Congress about the increased risk of terrorist plots globally, including on US soil, following the unexpected Hamas strikes against Israel on October 7. The likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS established its alleged caliphate years ago, we believe, will be inspired by the activities of Hamas and its allies, Wray added.
