Ex-envoys look to thwart settler leader from taking Brazil posting
Left-wing activists pressure Brasilia to reject Dani Dayan as new Israeli envoy; Brazil’s PM reportedly asked Israel to cancel appointment
Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
Representatives from the left-wing Peace NGO Forum, including three former Israeli ambassadors, met with Brazilian government officials last week in an attempt to block the appointment of former settler leader Dani Dayan as ambassador to Brazil, Haaretz reported Monday.
The group met with the Brazilian ambassadors to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. They are requesting Dayan be rejected based on his background representing the Yesha Council — the umbrella organization of the settlers — and the fact that he lives in a West Bank settlement, Ma’ale Shomron.
The activists are part of the diplomatic committee of the Peace NGO Forum, an organization that coordinates activities between Israeli and Palestinian NGOs that support a two-state solution. The group is headed by former Meretz MK Mossi Raz and includes former Foreign Ministry director-general and ambassador to South Africa Alon Liel, former ambassador to France Eli Bar-Navi, and Ilan Baruch, also a former ambassador to South Africa.
They told the Brazilian ambassadors that “Dayan’s appointment would send a very negative message to all Palestinians and Israelis who support that [two-state] solution, and would be a victory for those who support a binational state,” Liel told Haaretz.
On Sunday, the Ynet news website reported that Brazilian Prime Minister Dilma Rousseff had asked Israel to cancel Dayan’s appointment. Rousseff is worried that accepting Dayan as ambassador would be understood as support of Israeli settlements, the report said.

Rousseff has faced pressure from dozens of Brazilian organizations to reject Dayan. In August, a petition was presented to the Brazilian government calling the appointment “a violation of the international legitimacy and sovereignty of Brazil.”
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Monday voiced support for Dayan’s appointment, saying that “anyone who knows Dani knows that he’s a moral, honest and appropriate man to represent the country, and many others who don’t support his political way will attest to such.
“The attempt by individuals among us to slander Israel as bad in this way is shameful, dangerous and ugly,” Ya’alon said.
Former Israeli ambassador the United States, Knesset Member Michael Oren, also threw his support behind Dayan in a Facebook post Monday. “I have known Dani for many years and, in spite of some disagreements, I deeply respect his honesty and character. He is a true Zionist,” Oren stated.
Oren criticized his fellow former ambassadors for what he called “anti democratic and anti-Israeli” actions. He compared the efforts to block Dayan due to him living in the West Bank and his political beliefs to the European Union decision to label Israeli products from across the Green Line.
Oren wrote, “The three ambassadors trying to block his appointment have moved from labeling products to labeling individuals.”
Liel, who has expressed support for cultural boycotts of Israel and lobbied European government to recognize a Palestinian state, responded to the criticism in an interview with Army Radio.
“We believe we should be allowed to speak our minds around the world as well as in Israel. We believe that we can only save the idea of the two-state solution by turning directly to foreign governments, Liel said.
The Argentine-born Dayan is a staunch opponent of the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, and has been active in promoting Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Ahead of the Knesset elections earlier this year, Dayan was placed 21st on the Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home party’s Knesset list, but withdrew his candidacy before the vote.
“I accepted the challenge posed by the prime minister to deepen and improve the relations between Israel and Brazil,” Dayan said following his appointment. “I assured the prime minister I would not spare any effort or creativity in fulfilling the strategic task given to me.”
Dayan, 60, immigrated to Israel with his family at age 15. He later began working for a software firm and shortly afterward cofounded his own, the hugely successful Elad Systems. At the age of 50, he sold his share of the company and devoted himself to full-time political activism.
Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.