The Federal Police of Brazil, cooperating with the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, announced on Wednesday it had arrested two people in Sao Paulo with ties to Hezbollah, preventing a terrorist attack on Jewish community centers.
The individuals are facing charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “carrying out preparatory acts for terrorism,” which could result in upwards of 15 years in prison.
The arrests follow the declaration of war by Israel against the Sunni terrorist organization Hamas in the aftermath of an unprecedented mass killing of upwards of 1,200 civilians, some as young as infants, in Israel on October 7. Hamas terrorists engaged in door-to-door attacks on random civilians, killing families in their homes. Some victims were extensively tortured and Israeli authorities recently revealed evidence of gang rape of women targeted by the terrorists.
In response to the killing, the Iranian government, which funds both Hamas and the Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah, threw a street party to celebrate the killing of Jewish people and has launched a global campaign against Israel. While representing different factions of Islam, Hezbollah and Hamas share the goal of the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jewish people.
Hezbollah spokesmen have lauded the gruesome slaughter of families in their homes and abduction of over 250 people by Hamas in October as “great and marvelous.”
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Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Stephanie Hallett via StoryfulThe government of Brazil has moved to improve ties to Iran, the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, under radical socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula prominently rejected calls from the fellow leftist administration of American President Joe Biden not to allow Iranian warships to dock in Brazil, allowing two such vessels a stay in Rio de Janeiro in February. In the aftermath of the October attacks on Israel, Lula has parroted Hamas propaganda and accused Israel of “genocide” for undertaking self-defense operations against the terrorist group in Gaza, its stronghold.
Leftist leaders throughout Latin America have allowed Iran, and its proxy Hezbollah, to dramatically increase its presence in the region – particularly in the communist dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. In the “Tri-Border Area” between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, Hezbollah has cultivated relationships with some of Latin America’s deadliest drug gangs to facilitate drug trafficking for a profit.
Brazil’s Federal Police announced on Wednesday that it had arrested two people on charges of being recruited by Hezbollah. Citing the police, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported that the individuals were also accused of ties to Hamas.
In addition to the two individuals whose arrest was announced on Wednesday, Brazilian police confirmed that they had identified two other men currently in Lebanon conspiring with those arrested in Brazil to commit acts of terrorism in the Latin American country. Brazil has reportedly requested that Interpol issue red notices, or requests for arrest, for the men. All four, police announced, are Brazilian citizens.
The individuals were reportedly monitoring Jewish community centers in Brazil, including synagogues, and identifying potential targets for terrorist attacks. Hezbollah, which experts estimate receives between $700 million and $1 billion a year from the government of Iran, was reportedly funding the future attacks.
The arrests may not be the last related to the alleged Hezbollah-linked plots. Brazilian police also reported executing 11 search warrants in Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Brasilia, seeking information on more potential attacks or fellow co-conspirators.
Brazil first passed a terrorism law, the national Terrorism Act, in 2016, and used it for the first time to prosecute and convict 11 individuals that year suspected of ties to the Islamic State. The suspects in question faced charges, and were convicted, of using online communities on social media to recruit terrorists for the Islamic State and planning terrorist attacks against the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
Israel confirmed that it had cooperated with Brazilian authorities on the operation in a statement on Wednesday.
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“Security forces in Brazil, together with the Mossad and its partners in the Israeli security community, as well as other international security and law enforcement agencies thwarted an attack in Brazil,” a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read, “that Hezbollah, under the direction and funding of Iran, was planning to carry out.”
“These days, against the backdrop of the war against the terror group of Hamas, the terror group of Hezbollah and the Iranian regime continue to operate worldwide to carry out attacks against Israeli, Jewish and Western targets,” it continued.
The Israeli government suggested that the specific terror cell targeted by Wednesday’s actions was “stretching into other countries as well,” but did not name any other potential hubs for Hezbollah.
The Shiite terrorist organization has maintained a decades-long presence in South America, directed at conducting mass killings of Israelis and Jews generally. Hezbollah, with the backing of the Iranian government, is widely believed to be responsible for the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the single deadliest act of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere prior to September 11, 2001. The bombing killed 85 people, including both those within the AMIA building and passersby caught in the explosion.
No individual has been convicted for participating in the AMIA bombing. Argentine government officials have compiled extensive evidence tying the attack to both the government of Iran and Hezbollah, however. In 2015, a top Argentine prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, had prepared a testimony to Congress accusing leftist former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who spearheaded a plan for friendly relations with Iran, of shielding AMIA bombing plotters from justice in exchange for favorable trade deals with Iran. Nisman was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in his apartment the night before he was to testify to the Argentine Congress. Fernández de Kirchner is currently the vice president of Argentina.
Hezbollah is believed to maintain ties to some of Latin America’s most notorious drug trafficking organizations. A report published in 2019, citing Brazilian law enforcement authorities, revealed that Hezbollah had established lucrative relationships with two of Brazil’s deadliest drug gangs, the Red Command (CV) and the First Capital Command (PCC), aiding the trafficking of drugs through the underdeveloped Tri-Border Area that connects Brazil to Paraguay and Argentina.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.
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