Brazil’s successful Operation Trapiche confirmed an open secret: that members of Iran-funded terrorism move comfortably through South America.
Brazil’s Federal Police, with help from Israel’s Mossad, broke up a Hezbollah terror plot last week to recruit Brazilians to attack Jewish targets in the country, including shuls. When the office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced this achievement, those familiar with the murky world of intelligence services and terrorist groups were unsurprised.
Indeed, many experts expected that Iran-backed extremists would seek to target Jews worldwide in response to Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. While the Israeli government’s premature disclosure of the Hezbollah bust caused friction with Brazilian officials, the operation also underscored how the tentacles of Iran-funded terrorism reach further than ever, particularly in South America.
“People from our security team work closely with the Anti-Terrorism Department of Brazil’s Federal Police, and they warned us that something serious could happen,” says Ricardo Berkiensztat, executive president of the Jewish Federation of the State of São Paulo (FISESP), in an interview with Mishpacha.
Estimates of Brazil’s Jewish population range between 80,000 to 120,000, making it the second-largest community in South America after Argentina (estimated to be 180,000). At least half the total resides in São Paulo, the country’s largest city, and an attack there would not only have dealt a severe blow to the Jewish world but also reinforced the sense that no Jew can be safe anywhere.
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