Lula wins Brazilian runoff with 51.79%, keeping embassy in Tel Aviv

Luiz Inácio da Silva, known as Lula, won reelection as Brazil's president on Sunday, defeating Flavio Bolsonaro and stopping a planned move to relocate the country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Lula, the leader of the left-wing Workers Party, received 51.79% of valid votes. Flavio Bolsonaro, a center-right senator from the Liberal Party, received 48.21%. Bolsonaro stated he did not accept the results, although the specific mechanism for a challenge was unclear.

The outcome preserves the current diplomatic status quo in a region where several leaders have recently pivoted toward closer alignment with Israel. Bolsonaro had promised to restore an ambassador to Israel and move the embassy to Jerusalem by 2027. That pledge came during a June 28, 2026, meeting with Jewish leaders in Buenos Aires, where he called the 120,000 Jews in Brazil among the brightest in the nation's medicine, industry, and science sectors.

Lula's administration has taken a different approach to relations with Israel. In January 2024, his government endorsed South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. In February 2024, Lula compared the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza to the Holocaust. That remark triggered a diplomatic crisis and drew public condemnation from Brazil's Jewish umbrella organization, CONIB, and the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires.

The election result interrupts a pattern of diplomatic shifts in Latin America since 2023. President Javier Milei of Argentina, elected in 2023, has made support for Israel central to his foreign policy. President Rodrigo Paz Pereira of Bolivia, elected in 2025, restored diplomatic relations that his predecessor had severed.

Other recent changes include President Nasry Asfura of Honduras, who recognized Israel's new ambassador after his predecessor left the process pending. President José Antonio Kast of Chile, elected in 2025, is rebuilding ties that had diminished under his predecessor. President Abelardo de la Espriella of Colombia, elected in May, restored severed ties, sent his foreign minister to inaugurate a Jerusalem embassy, and withdrew from the ICJ genocide case against Israel.

Following the first round of voting on October 4, in which Bolsonaro finished ahead of Lula, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a congratulatory message on X/Twitter. He expressed hope for restoring friendship between the two nations and wished Bolsonaro a great victory in the runoff.