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There has been a 400 percent increase in the issuance of demolition orders, Zionist Minister Ben Gvir confirmed. In order to avoid covering the expenses, about 300 residents of the Arab Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, in the Negev desert, destroyed their own homes on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Israeli Police and the Land Authority demolished the only remaining structure, the mosque, with the aim of clearing the area to build a Jewish-only town.

“The destruction of Umm al-Hiran to make way for the settlement of Dror is part of a systematic population replacement program in the Negev, intended to uproot nearly 10,000 people in 14 villages and replace them with almost 20 new Jewish colonies, sometimes on the same land,” the Regional Council of Unrecognized Bedouin Villages (RCUV) said today following this forced evacuation.

After a legal battle lasting over 20 years, this is the fourth Bedouin village destroyed by the Israeli government in 2024, and in December, the same is expected to happen to Ras Jaraba, a community in the Negev with over 500 residents and under judicial eviction orders since July 2023.

Already in 2017, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) reported that the community replacing Al-Hiran would be open only to “Jewish Israeli citizens or permanent residents who observe the Torah and commandments according to the values of Orthodox Judaism.”

An RCUV spokesperson, Nati Yefet, indicated that around a hundred police officers, accompanied by seven bulldozers, entered the village at around 3:30 a.m. Three residents, like many today resettled in the 12th neighborhood of the nearby town of Hura, were detained for nine hours. At the same time, the mosque was demolished.

“There is justice, and there is justice! A mosque and illegal buildings constructed in the village of Umm al-Hiran, in the Negev, were destroyed this morning by government tractors,” celebrated National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a settler and avowed racist who oversees police forces, today on X.

“Since the beginning of the year, there has been a 400 percent increase in the issuance of demolition orders: Proud to lead a strong policy of destroying illegal houses in the Negev!” added Ben Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 for supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism.

Israel does not recognize, nor show on its maps, 36 semi-nomadic Bedouin villages that predate the establishment of this state in 1948. Only eleven have been recognized in the last two decades, but human rights organizations report they lack any basic infrastructure like water, electricity, or roads.

The Zionist government aims for some 350,000 Bedouins to abandon their agricultural lifestyle in the Negev and live in limited, impoverished urban areas. At least 190,000 Bedouins have already been forced to do so.

The government’s ‘Population Replacement’ program in the Negev seeks to displace around 9,000 Arab Bedouins from 14 villages and replace them with a similar number of Jewish settlements. Despite comprising nearly 40 percent of the Negev’s population, Bedouins have access to less than 10 percent of agricultural areas and less than 4 percent of the land.

“The destruction of Umm al-Hiran this morning exemplifies the face of institutionalized racism in its most extreme form. The triumphant statements by the Israel Land Authority are a punch to the gut, although, unfortunately, we expect nothing better from Ben Gvir, the Minister of National Security. It is incomprehensible that a government authority would openly boast about its discriminatory policies,” RCUV stated.

Neto was a great critic of the Workers’ Party (PT) during Dilma Rousseff’s government. In 2016, he was a supporter of the pro-coup movement against the former president. In one of his videos, he celebrated after the process was approved, saying: “The presentations in Brasilia are over, now all that’s missing is the result for the impeachment of the demon”

In an interview in June 2017, he said that he would vote for Jair Bolsonaro in order not to vote for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, should they both run in the presidential elections in 2018. In 2020, Neto began to adopt a more critical stance towards Bolsonaro, calling him “genocidal” due to his management during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2022 presidential elections, he declared his support for Lula da Silva and, upon meeting Rousseff in person, apologized for having supported her impeachment: “Yesterday I was able to look President Dilma in the eye and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for having propagated antipetism, coup discourse and hatred of the left. The love she gave me in return was something I can’t even explain to you."

Neto criticized a tribute by the Novo (Ancap, Minor Party) party to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill. A statue of the former prime minister was the target of anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstrations. “Churchill was a racist, a white supremacist, he considered Indians an ‘inferior race’. He advocated poison gas against Kurds, Afghans and ‘uncivilized tribes’. He caused millions of deaths in India. Supported Apartheid,” Neto wrote on Twitter.

Neto was ordered by the São Paulo courts to pay R$5,000 in damages to Bolsonaro MP Paulo Bilynskyj (PL-SP). Last year, the MP paid tribute in the Chamber of Deputies to his Ukrainian grandfather (Bohadan Bilynskyj), who “at the age of 20 fought a world war to free Ukraine from communist clutches”. He then said that he was doing the same as his grandfather, “fighting against the installation of a communist regime in Brazil”

“It’s in our blood to destroy communism,” he said. When he heard about the speech, Felipe Neto posted a comment on the internet saying that Bilynskyj’s grandfather was a “Nazi” and that he had fought “in Hitler’s army”.

China and Brazil have always persisted in peaceful development, impartiality and justice and have identical or convergent views on many international and regional issues. Both countries are staunch defenders of multilateralism and the basic norms governing international relations and have maintained close collaboration throughout this time on important issues such as global governance and climate change in international organizations and multilateral forums such as the UN, the G20 and BRICS.

Just recently, China and Brazil issued common understandings on a political resolution to the crisis in Ukraine and received a positive response from the international community. Hand in hand, the two countries are fulfilling their roles as major responsible countries, promoting global multipolarization and the democratization of international relations, as well as injecting positive energy into world peace and stability.

In today’s world, transformations on a scale not seen in a century are taking place at an accelerated pace, and new challenges and changes continue to emerge. A Chinese saying goes: “In a boat race, those who row hard win; in a sailboat race, those who dare to advance under full sail win.” China and Brazil, two great developing countries in the eastern and western hemispheres and important members of the BRICS, must unite more closely, dare to be pioneers and wave chasers, and together open up new navigation routes that lead to a more beautiful future that the peoples of the two countries and humanity deserve.

We must maintain friendship as the general direction for the development of the relationship between China and Brazil. We will always persist in mutual respect, trust and learning and further strengthen exchanges between governments, between political parties, between legislative bodies at all levels and in all areas. We will strengthen exchanges of experiences in governance and development, consolidate mutual strategic trust and further compact the political base for Sino-Brazilian relations. We will continue to take advantage of the role of cooperation mechanisms such as Cosban and the Global Strategic Dialogue, to form a stable and mature relationship between great countries and promote it in order to move forward with firm steps and reach far and wide.

We must cultivate new strengths for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Brazil. Both countries have important goals of accelerating economic development and improving people’s well-being, and are striving to achieve breakthroughs in modernization. In the rapidly evolving context of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, our countries must seize future opportunities. We will continuously promote the strengthening of synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and Brazil’s development strategies, constantly strengthen the strategic, global and creative nature of China-Brazil mutually beneficial cooperation, create more exemplary projects that meet future demands and bring lasting benefits to the people, and push forward the common development of our countries and regions.

We must consolidate the friendship between the peoples of China and Brazil. The rich and unique cultures of the two countries inspire and attract each other. We must carry on the good tradition of openness and inclusion, deepen exchanges and cooperation in culture and education, science and technology, health, sport, tourism and between sub-national entities. In this way, our peoples can get to know a more genuine, multidimensional and lively China and Brazil, and we will train more “ambassadors” who work for the long continuity of the traditional China-Brazil friendship. With these exchanges, we will ensure that our civilizations live together in harmony, shine together and contribute to the civilizational diversity of our world, which can be compared to a garden full of flowers.

We must demonstrate the unity, mutual aid and responsibility of China and Brazil. Today, the Global South is collectively on the rise, but its voice and aspirations are not yet fully reflected in the system of global governance. As major developing countries, China and Brazil must assume the responsibility entrusted by history and work together with the other countries of the Global South to firmly defend the common interests of developing countries, face global challenges with cooperation, make global governance fairer and more equitable, and contribute to the peace, stability and common development of the world.

Another important objective of my visit to Brazil is to participate in the G20 Summit. The G20 is an important platform for international economic cooperation. Brazil set the motto of its presidency as “Building a just world and a sustainable planet”, proactively promoted G20 cooperation in all areas and laid a good foundation for the successful holding of the Summit in Rio. President Lula adopted “fighting hunger and poverty” as a main theme of the summit and proposed the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, to which China expresses great appreciation and support.

In order to build a just world, the G20 must persist in the principles of mutual respect, cooperation on an equal footing, mutual benefits and shared gains, and support the countries of the Global South to achieve greater development. We need to put development at the heart of G20 cooperation, prioritize the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, form a global partnership for sustainable development, promote a more inclusive, beneficial and resilient global development. We must proactively promote the reform of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization and increase the representation and voice of the Global South. We must strengthen the coordination of macroeconomic policies, promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment and create an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for international economic cooperation.

To build a sustainable planet, the G20 needs to advocate sustainable production and life and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. It needs to boost in-depth international cooperation in areas such as green and low-carbon development, environmental protection, energy transition and tackling climate change, persist in the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and provide more support to the countries of the Global South in terms of funding, technology and capacity building. Thirty-two years ago, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, where key results such as Agenda 21 were achieved. One of the important agendas of the G20 leaders in Rio will be the discussion on green and low-carbon development on the planet. I hope that the summit can inject greater vigor and confidence into global sustainable development.

I am convinced that the G20 Summit in Rio will achieve fruitful results and leave a distinct Brazilian mark on the history of the bloc. I also look forward to working together with President Lula to lead China-Brazil relations into the new “golden 50 years” and form a community with a fairer and more sustainable shared future.

In an article for Folha on the eve of the G20 summit, Chinese leader Xi Jinping highlights partnership in various areas and says it is necessary to reform the IMF, World Bank and WTO

At the invitation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, I will soon be paying a state visit to the Federative Republic of Brazil and taking part in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil has a vast territory, rich resources, stunning landscapes and diverse cultures, and it is a country that the Chinese people like very much. More than 200 years ago, tea, lychee, spices and porcelain crossed the seas to Brazil, and from there a bridge of economic and commercial exchange was created between the two countries and the bonds of friendly exchange between Chinese and Brazilians were born.

China-Brazil diplomatic relations, established on August 15, 1974, have withstood the changes and turbulence in the international situation over the past 50 years and are increasingly mature and dynamic. They have effectively promoted the development of the two countries, contributed positively to peace and stability in the world and offered an example of win-win cooperation and a shared future between two major developing countries.

China and Brazil have always persisted in mutual respect and equal treatment. They understand and support the development paths that the Chinese and Brazilian people have chosen. Brazil was the first country to establish a strategic partnership with China and the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish a global strategic partnership with Beijing.

The two countries have a relationship that has always been at the forefront of relations between China and developing countries and have complete governmental mechanisms for dialog and cooperation. The Sino-Brazilian High-Level Concertation and Cooperation Commission (Cosban), which has been running smoothly for 20 years, plays an important role in coordinating and planning cooperation in different areas and in the pursuit of common development.

China and Brazil always pursue mutual benefits, shared gains and complementarity, and jointly promote the modernization of the two countries. China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years and is one of the main sources of foreign investment - according to Chinese statistics, it has imported more than US$100 billion from Brazil annually in the last three years, setting a new record. With joint efforts, the two countries enjoy an ever-improving bilateral trade agenda, ever-higher quality cooperation and ever-expanding common interests. Their mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as agriculture, infrastructure, energy and natural resources, green development, science, technology and innovation, finance, among others, is effective and full of highlights and offers vigorous impulses to the economic and social development of both countries.

China and Brazil have always persisted in openness, inclusion and mutual learning. By nature, they feel close to each other and have a common quest for all that is beautiful. The fact that Cecília Meireles and Machado de Assis, both well-known Brazilian poets and writers, translated poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty reflects a mental symphony between the two sides that transcends time and space. In recent years, music, dance, gastronomy, sports and the arts have become the new bridges linking the two peoples and contributing to the deepening of mutual knowledge and friendship between Chinese and Brazilians.

Cute capybaras, bossa nova, samba and capoeira are popular in China, while traditional festivals such as the spring festival and other elements of Chinese culture such as traditional medicine are increasingly known by Brazilians. Between the two countries, there are frequent interactions between young people, journalists and academics, as well as dynamic exchanges between sub-national entities. What’s more, the activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations serve as banquets of cultural delights offered to both peoples. In recent days, I have received letters from more than a hundred Brazilian friends from the Brazil-China Friendship Association, Brazilian universities, Rio’s Copacabana Fort Orchestra and other sectors of Brazilian society, and I have been very touched by the great expectations they have for deepening Sino-Brazilian friendship.