Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Brazilian President-elect Jair Paulsonaro had told him that moving his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was "a matter of time."
"We attach enormous importance to Brazil and Brazil in the context of Latin America, which promises a historic change," Netanyahu said during a meeting with leaders of the Jewish community in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Israeli prime minister - who met Paulsonaro on Friday - said the Brazilian-elected president had accepted his invitation to visit Israel, a visit likely to take place in March. Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister to visit Brazil and will attend Polsonaru's inauguration ceremony next Tuesday.
"We need good allies, good friends and good brothers like Benjamin Netanyahu," Paulsonaro said after Netanyahu met.
Paulsonaro, who belongs to the far-right faction, has said earlier that he wants to follow the example of US President Donald Trump and transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Arab League has sent a letter to Polsonaro, saying that the relocation of the embassy would be a setback for Brazil's relations with Arab countries, Reuters reported.
Paulsonaro is under pressure from Brazil's strong agriculture sector not to take that step because it could hurt Brazilian exports to Arab countries, Reuters reported.
If the elected Brazilian president makes that move, it will be a sharp shift in Brazil's foreign policy, which has long supported the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May. Australia announced in mid-December that West Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, but said it would not transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem at the moment.