Brazil’s successful Operation Trapiche confirmed an open secret: that members of Iran-funded terrorism move comfortably through South America

Photos: AP Images

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razil’s Federal Police, with help from Israel’s Mossad, broke up a Hezbollah terror plot last week to recruit Brazilians to attack Jewish targets in the country, including shuls. When the office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced this achievement, those familiar with the murky world of intelligence services and terrorist groups were unsurprised.

Indeed, many experts expected that Iran-backed extremists would seek to target Jews worldwide in response to Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. While the Israeli government’s premature disclosure of the Hezbollah bust caused friction with Brazilian officials, the operation also underscored how the tentacles of Iran-funded terrorism reach further than ever, particularly in South America.

Operation Trapiche

“People from our security team work closely with the Anti-Terrorism Department of Brazil’s Federal Police, and they warned us that something serious could happen,” says Ricardo Berkiensztat, executive president of the Jewish Federation of the State of São Paulo (FISESP), in an interview with Mishpacha.

Estimates of Brazil’s Jewish population range between 80,000 to 120,000, making it the second-largest community in South America after Argentina (estimated to be 180,000). At least half the total resides in São Paulo, the country’s largest city, and an attack there would not only have dealt a severe blow to the Jewish world but also reinforced the sense that no Jew can be safe anywhere.

At least one disaster has now been averted, b’chasdei Shamayim, due to the so-called “Operation Trapiche” on November 8, under which the Brazilian federal police arrested two individuals suspected of planning attacks against Jewish targets orchestrated by the Hezbollah terrorist organization. One of the detainees was apprehended upon arrival at the São Paulo airport from Lebanon. The police also executed 11 search-and-seizure warrants, and issued an international arrest warrant for two Brazilian citizens believed to be living in Lebanon.

“After what has happened in the past in Argentina, we are always vigilant to ensure nothing similar occurs here,” explains Berkiensztat.

He is drawing a connection that is obvious for any South American Jew: the attacks in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, which confirmed the presence of Islamic terrorists in a region where they should ostensibly have no interests. On March 17, 1992, the Hezbollah terrorist organization bombed the Israeli embassy in that country, killing 22 people. Two years later, on July 18, 1994, they targeted the AMIA Jewish community center with an even deadlier bomb, killing 85 citizens.

Those attacks, as well as the arrests in Brazil last week, all show the modus operandi of Iranian terrorism. “Historically, when Iran cannot confront Israel in a direct fight, they seek revenge or take military action where they believe they can act without repercussions,” explains Gabriel Ben-Tasgal, a journalist and researcher on intelligence services and Islamic terrorist organizations who has long covered South America.

To illustrate, he provides specific examples: “In 1992, Israel eliminated the then-leader of Hezbollah, Abbas al-Musawi. Three weeks later, Hezbollah bombed the Israeli embassy in Argentina, and they clearly stated that it was revenge for the killing of al-Musawi. In 2012, when Israel killed the head of Hezbollah operations, Hezbollah retaliated by carrying out an attack in Bulgaria that killed seven Israeli tourists.

“This is a well-known repeated pattern of behavior of Iran,” Ben-Tasgal says. “That’s why it is not surprising, especially when there is a military event in the Middle East, that it resonates in other countries, as in this case, Brazil.”

Veteran Israeli journalist Yossi Melman, who has covered intelligence and strategic affairs for Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post, confirms that the Mossad is now working under a worldwide state of red alert.

“This is the game of Islamic terrorist organizations,” he tells Mishpacha. “Hezbollah wants to attack Israeli targets throughout the year, but, on the other hand, they assess the times when it is convenient to strike. In times of war, although it is true that security agencies are more alert, it is also more opportune for terrorists to attack. It’s a contest to see who is stronger. In this specific case in Brazil, the Mossad won.”

Why South America?

Brazil’s successful Operation Trapiche confirmed an open secret: that members of Iran-funded terrorism move comfortably through South America. One area where they are suspected to have established a strong foothold is the so-called “Triple Frontier,” the point where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina converge.

Moreover, it is not news that Iran has for years been forging solid relationships with many countries governed by left-wing parties. Venezuela is an emblematic case. It has allied itself with the Shiite regime for over 20 years, and Iranian terror officials are suspected of using the capital, Caracas, as a jumping-off point to various cities on the continent. Last year a flight departing Caracas for Buenos Aires was stopped, and 19 crew members, five of whom were Iranians, were detained. As is the custom in these parts, all were released.

Gabriel Ben-Tasgal, an expert on the phenomenon of Islamist penetration of South America, explains the three main objectives Shiite terrorists hope to achieve in the region.

“The first objective is dawa, the proselytizing struggle to attract new followers to Shi’ism,” he says.

The second objective is clearly to clean up the image of the Iranian Islamic regime. To this end, they founded a television network called “HispanTV,” which broadcasts Iranian propaganda and also serves as a way to funnel jobs and money to public officials who speak well of the Shiite regime. Many members of various Spanish-speaking left-wing parties benefited from “salaries,” including Pablo Iglesias, a far-left activist and former politician in Spain.

The third major objective is drug trafficking and money laundering. “We estimate that they are laundering around $400 million in profits from drug traffickers and are introducing the drug Captagon [fenethylline], manufactured in Syria and Lebanon, to Latin America,” says Ben-Tasgal.

The Hamas terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre were suspected of being under the influence of this drug. But that’s not all.

“There are about 10,000 Shiites wandering around South America with Venezuelan passports,” Ben-Tasgal charges. “All of this is a looming danger, and intelligence services say so clearly. So it’s entirely possible that individuals planning attacks could have entered with passports from allied countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, or Nicaragua.”

Hezbollah has maintained such groups in South America for years, adds Yossi Melman.

“It is technically easy, due to the presence of a significant community of Syrians and Lebanese,” he says. “They have certain pre-existing connections through business or even family ties. In addition, Iranian embassies guarantee them protection and logistical facilities. So Hezbollah forms groups of terrorists there and tells them to stay quiet, not to attract attention. Then when the time comes, Hezbollah gives the order, and they act.”

South America offers another benefit, say these experts, in that the local regions allow terror groups to commit large-scale atrocities without paying high costs. “Iran acts where it is allowed,” says Ben-Tasgal. “Where it believes it can act and is convinced that it will not be accused. A country with borders as penetrable, as permeable as Brazil’s, or a country where impunity is the norm, like Argentina, is attractive for staging an attack when you know that you can probably get away without being punished.”

Greater Resonance

Although the revelation that an attack was being planned generated a big scare within the Brazilian community, Jewish institutions have not increased security beyond the arrangements that were already in place, such as posting armed guards on duty 24 hours a day.

“We had already taken measures after October 7, and the police assured us that, despite this operation, there is no need to add to those measures,” explains Brazilian community leader Ricardo Berkiensztat.

In the same vein, Amos Linievsky, president of the AMIA Jewish community center in Argentina, expressed solidarity with Brazil’s Jews and concern for what happened. He clarified that there has also been no increase in security provisions in Jewish institutions in Argentina beyond the reinforcement enacted after the Hamas massacre.

Hezbollah’s attempt at an attack on a country like Brazil, currently led by a left-wing government that has not strongly condemned Hamas for the October 7 massacre, might seem surprising. However, according to Ben-Tasgal, terrorist organizations weigh various factors when choosing their targets.

“While it would have made more sense for them to attack Paraguay, a country that has promised to move its embassy to Jerusalem, one classic behavioral pattern of terrorist groups is to attack a place that has more international resonance,” says Ben-Tasgal. “Therefore, Brazil, Argentina, or Mexico are places where the impact would be much greater than an attack in Paraguay or Peru.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 986)