Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro on an official state visit in Brazil, Dec. 28, 2018. Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO.

JNS.org – Anyone who wants additional proof that Israel is a rising world power should see the great admiration for Israel in Brazil, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

Netanyahu arrived in Brazil last week to attend the inauguration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and hold meetings with other South American leaders.

On Friday, Bolsonaro awarded Netanyahu the National Order of the Southern Cross, the most prestigious medal Brazil awards foreign dignitaries.

“When the president of Brazil gave me the highest honor that Brazil grants foreign leaders, I accepted it on your behalf,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language message to Israelis posted on his Twitter account.

“I received from him the most important national decoration in Brazil. We will strengthen our bilateral relations in economics, security and technology. A true friend. A new era in relations between Israel and Brazil,” Netanyahu tweeted.

Netanyahu also held a tripartite meeting with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Hernandez asked for Israel’s help in “opening doors” for Honduras in Washington, as well as promoting a number of issues in the Trump administration. Hernandez said that in exchange for Israeli help on those matters, he would consider moving the Honduran embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Israel does not currently maintain an embassy in Honduras.

Netanyahu tweeted that he held “a great meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in which we further strengthened cooperation between Israel and the US in a variety of areas.”

He held another meeting in Brasilia with Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and welcomed the establishment of direct flights between Israel and Chile. Netanyahu and Piñera agreed to work together to work together to route the flight route through Africa, shortening the time it takes to fly between Israel and Chile.