Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet on Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and incoming Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the latter’s inauguration on Tuesday.
As part of the first-ever visit by a sitting Israeli prime minister to Brazil, Netanyahu is expected to forge stronger ties between his country and the South American nation.
Bolsonaro has promised to move the Brazilian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and shutter the Palestinian embassy in the capital of Brasilia.
“The president-elect announced he would [relocate the embassy]. You can be certain I will speak with him about that in our first meeting,” Netanyahu told reporters on his flight before it landed in Rio de Janeiro.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Pompeo comes ahead of the U.S. plans to withdraw its troops from Syria, said the State Department on Thursday.
A senior U.S. State Department spokesperson told reporters on Friday that America approves of Bolsonaro’s plans to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.
In addition to meeting Pompeo and Bolsonaro, Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera.