Israeli embassy blurs out ambassador’s non-kosher lobster in photo of lunch with Bolsonaro
Seafood censorship – poor photo-editing effort roundly ridiculed
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.When the Israeli ambassador to Brazil Yossi Shelley and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro were photographed having lunch on Sunday and the picture uploaded to Twitter, their plates seemed to hold a bizarre black-coloured foodstuff slipping onto the table at awkward angles.
Closer inspection reveals the dark-coloured mass is in fact a crude attempt at censoring the lobsters the pair were served prior to watching Brazil’s victory over Peru in the Copa America football finals.
The tweet, put out by the embassy, which is still live at the time of writing, says: “Before the Copa America final between Brazil and Peru, President Bolsonaro and Ambassador Shelley ate lunch in Brasilia. They’ll follow the game and wish the Brazilian team luck in search of another title. Go Brazil!”
Shellfish is not considered kosher under Jewish dietary laws, which may explain the censorship in the tweet from the Israeli embassy.
The disguised food has been thoroughly ridiculed on Twitter, with people asking why the pair are eating coal, or whether it was in fact the lobsters which asked to be blurred out due to the company they were keeping.
“Our president has so much humility he even eats smoke”, one Brazilian commenter wrote.
Others noted that the poor photo editing appeared to have been done on Microsoft Paint, and people uploaded images of news articles about Mr Bolsonaro saying the holocaust could be “forgiven but not forgotten” but with black scrawl scribbled over them.
The editing is made all the more unnecessary given the offending food could easily have been cropped out of the bottom of the photograph.
Earlier this year Mr Bolsonaro awarded Mr Shelley the National Order of the Southern Cross – Brazil’s highest national honour for high-ranking guests.
At the time, Mr Shelley told The Times of Israel he was awarded the honour for his work in economics over the last two years and for strengthening relations between Israel and Brazil in the fields of water technology, security and diplomacy.
The Independent has contacted the Israeli embassy in Brazil for comment.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments