Flavio Bolsonaro invited to Israel by Netanyahu

Flavio Bolsonaro has been invited to Israel by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Brazil's first-round presidential vote, Netanyahu's office said on Friday.

Netanyahu spoke with the Brazilian presidential candidate on Thursday night, congratulated him on his first-round result and invited him to visit Israel, the office said. Bolsonaro invited Netanyahu to visit Brazil, and Bolsonaro's brother Eduardo also took part in the call, according to the statement.

Netanyahu's office said the two intended to “renew the deep friendship” between Israel and Brazil as part of what it called a transformation in Israel's relations with South American countries.

Brazilians are due to vote in a presidential runoff on October 25. Netanyahu also faces Israel's general election on October 27.

Bolsonaro, 45, is the eldest son of far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest for plotting a coup after losing Brazil's 2022 election. The younger Bolsonaro was leading in a Datafolha poll on Thursday, with 52 percent against 48 percent for incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.