Brazil Sent a Note of Protest to Israel
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| The National Congress building |
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BPNIC Briefing, August 2008
Brazil sent a note of protest to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Israel condemning the action that kept the
daughter of ambassador of Brazil Pedro Motto Pinto Coelho in
Tel Aviv, arrested for about three hours in the immigration
of Ben Gurion international airport in Lod-Israel, reported
the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations.
The ambassador of Israel in Brasilia, Tzipora Rimon, was
also called by the head of the department of the Middle East
at Itamaraty, Sarkis Karmirian, to provide information on
the episode. The diplomatic incident occurred in the early
hours of 7/17/2008, when the ambassador's daughter, Laila
Pinto Coelho, 25, was detained for investigations upon
arrival in Israel for a month long visit.
After being informed of the detention, Mr. Motta came as a
diplomat and asked that his daughter be freed. He was rudely
received and later expelled from the room. They treated me
with terrible rudeness; the official started screaming at me
telling me to leave the room and to not say anything; and I
had to call the emergency office at the Israeli ministry in
the middle of the night, and the official there would not
speak to me either, recounted Mr. Motta.
The case was only solved after the intervention of the chief
of protocol of the Chancellery of Israel, Ambassador Itzhak
Eldan.
In her third visit to Israel, visiting her parents, Laila, a
medical student, classified the incident as "humiliating"
and complained about the aggressiveness of the Israeli
agents.
For the ambassador, this is a serious incident
Mr. Motta considers the episode a serious incident - They
didn't recognize that I am a legal representative of
Brazilians and the government of Brazil. My credentials
granted by the Israeli government were unknown. I don't wait
for excuses, but that Brazil and their citizens are
recognized and respected in Israel and in the world.
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