AFTER CAIRO: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH ECHOES IN

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000421 SENSITIVE NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC, NSC FOR ROSSELLO SP FOR JARED COHEN R FOR KATIE DOWD E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2019 TAGS: BR KPAO PGOV PREL PTER SUBJECT: AFTER CAIRO: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH ECHOES IN SAO PAULO AMONG MUSLIMS/NON-MUSLIMS REF: A. STATE 71325 ¶B. BRASILIA 709 ¶C. SAO PAULO 310 ¶D. SAO PAULO 542 (08) Classified By: Consul A/CG William Popp; Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary: ¶1. (SBU) President Obama's June 4 address to the world's Muslim population has echoed favorably in both Sao Paulo's Muslim and non-Muslim communities, producing distinct reactions within key groups. Moderate Sunni Muslims, many of them eager to work with the U.S., were euphoric, as reported Ref B. Harder line Sunnis praised the speech, albeit in guarded terms, though they have proved open to engagement. Non-Muslim Brazilian foreign policy experts and editorialists also reacted favorably. This cable examines the reactions of each group with an eye toward finding general opportunities to further our relations with Sao Paulo's varied and growing Muslim community and with non-Muslim Brazilians interested in Middle Eastern/foreign policy issues. (Note: This cable was prepared before Ref A, State 71325, to which Post will respond septel. End Note.) End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Sao Paulo hosts Brazil's largest Muslim communities. The vast majority are Sunnis of Lebanese descent. Politically, they range from U.S.-friendly to those highly critical of both the U.S. and Israel. Generally, the more strictly religious Muslims embrace a more critical orientation of U.S. policy and of Israel. Frequently, the Sheik's most interested in meeting with us have less influence in the Muslim community. In preparing this cable, a range of Arab and Muslim interlocutors were consulted, including: Sheik Armando Hussein Saleh (moderate, Brazil-born, frequently tapped by the GOB to represent Muslims); Mohammed Hussein El-Zoghbi (Lebanese-descended, moderate); Sheik Suheil Yamout (Lebanese-born, Moderate, head of the Future Movement); Helmi Nasr (Egyptian born, translator of Koran into Portuguese); Sheik Mohammed Al-Boustani (Lebanese, moderate); Sheik Ahmad Ali Saifi (critical of the U.S., head of the Brazil chapter of the Islamic Dissemination Center for Latin America); Sheik Jihad Hammadeh (critic of U.S. policy, works with Ali Saifi, Vice President of the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY)); Lebanon Consul General Joseph Sayah (Maronite Christian, moderate) as well as a range of non-Muslim Brazil foreign policy-oriented academics and experts. ¶3. (SBU) Following the President's June 4 address, Post e-mailed copies of the speech in Portuguese and in Arabic under a cover letter from the CG to Muslim/Middle Eastern contacts. We believe that sending the Arabic copy was an important gesture that helped to produce solid responses. In fact, according to Sheik Jihad Hammadeh, many Sheiks in Brazil do not have good Portuguese language skills. These tend to be contacts with the strongest critical orientations toward U.S. policy. "Relief" Among the Moderates ¶4. (SBU) Muslim friends of the U.S. were delighted to see a U.S. President speak with both respect and personal knowledge of Islam. Lebanon CG Joseph Sayah singled out President Obama's ability to give a heartfelt address as a key strong point of his presentation. The moderates' comments indicated that the President's speech had given them more room to cooperate with the United States. Praise came with warnings, however. Moderate Sheik Saleh cautioned that the U.S. had to follow up the President's remarks with actions. There will always be radicals who are impossible to win over, he warned, and they will seize the initiative if there are no results. The More Distant and Critical: Obliged to Engage... SAO PAULO 00000421 002 OF 003 ¶5. (SBU) Sheiks Ahmad Ali Saifi and Jihad Hammadeh, who represent a Muslim fundamentalist view, were less enthusiastic about the speech. Hammadeh responded with an editorial published in Sao Paulo daily Folha that welcomed President Obama's conciliatory tone but warned that the "euphoria" the speech had provoked in the Middle East had to be balanced with a "dose of doubt." Hammadeh asked what actions would follow the President's encouraging words and he accused the U.S. Government of aiding entities that promote Islamophobia in the wake of the September 11 attacks. ¶6. (SBU) Sheik Ali Saifi responded with a detailed three-page fax to the CG that praised President Obama for his learned references to Islam, his ability to cite the Koran, the choice of venue (Egypt),its attempt to isolate Al Qaeda, and the President's refusal to use the word "terrorism." At the same time, Ali Saifi questioned President Obama's description of the U.S.-Israel alliance as "unbreakable" and asserted that the President had omitted key points, including " the suffering of the Palestinians, the massacre of innocents, Israel's use of prohibited American munitions, and...new Israel settlements." Saifi also criticized President Obama for not apologizing for "the massacre of innocents in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan." New Openings and Areas for Engagement ¶7. (SBU) Although Poloff had sought a meeting with Sheik Hammadeh for months, the Cairo Speech broke the ice, with Hammadeh agreeing to get together on 6/30. This coincided with the visits of Jared Cohen (SP) and Katie Dowd (R),whom the Sheik also received. (Note: Cohen had previously met with Hammadeh, Ref D. End Note.) The Sheik welcomed the meeting, but echoed Saleh's concerns that the President's speech had to be followed by decisive actions. Cohen argued convincingly that both the Department and Brazil's Muslims needed to focus on micro-projects that could build our relations even as other, larger actors worked on the big questions in the Middle East, like a Palestinian state. ¶8. (SBU) Participants discussed three possible projects: a Consular Section "Open House" for Muslim contacts to understand the visa process; an Obama biographical presentation to Islamic youth (Ref C); and cyber-forums to enhance contact between Brazil's Muslims and U.S. Muslims. Hammadeh responded favorably all three initiatives, though he clearly sought to channel all possible contacts through established leaders in his Muslim community (the Obama presentation would be for Sheiks not youth and Sheiks would use the cyber-fora to establish links with U.S. Muslims). Post will elaborate these ideas in greater detail septel. Non-Muslim Academic and Editorial Opinion ¶9. (U) Brazil prides itself on its tolerance and promotes mixing, both racial and cultural, as a national virtue. As such, academics and editorialists welcomed the President's speech as a genuinely new opening. Former U.S. Ambassador Rubens Barbosa called the Cairo Address "brilliant," stating how pleasant and surprising it was to see a U.S. President quote the Koran. Cairo-based Brazilian journalist Gustavo Chacra characterized the speech as a "Martin Luther King moment" for U.S.-Muslim relations. Major daily "O Estado" editoralist Demetrio Magnoli praised the President for abandoning the "Manichean" approaches of the past. He predicted that President Obama's address would win back much-needed credibility for the U.S. ¶10. (SBU) Comment: Many of the contacts who most praised the speech are those who have historically sought contact with the U.S. Frequently, their standing in the Muslim community is in inverse proportion to their pro-U.S. leanings. Sheik Saleh, for example, told Poloff that more extreme Muslims SAO PAULO 00000421 003 OF 003 shun him for his work with the GOB and his contacts with the U.S. Sheik Boustani works hard on symbolic activities dedicated to reconciliation. He teaches an interfaith course at a local high end bookstore with a Rabbi and a Catholic priest and is an enthusiastic participant in The Abraham Path project. Regrettably, despite his good works, Boustani's influence in the Muslim community reportedly could be stronger. Moderates also sometimes criticized Consulate engagement with more extreme elements, like Sheik Hammadeh (below),saying that our meeting them gives the hard-liners greater legitimacy. End Comment. Comment: Coordinating the Currents ¶11. (SBU) The President's speech opens up opportunities for engagement. The challenge will be to try to bolster the moderates while not remaining limited to them in our contacts. One key to the good responses we received was our sending out the President's speech to contacts under a cover from the CG in both Portuguese and Arabic. This gesture went a long way toward producing the lengthy, albeit somewhat critical, responses we received. The proposal for a Consulate Open House also shows promise, since visas are a key area of anxiety for the Muslim community. Finally, the overwhelmingly positive response of non-Muslim Brazilians suggest that our engagement cannot just be bilateral (U.S. and local Muslims),but should be, at least in part, three-way, including non-Muslim Brazilians, whose welcoming attitude toward the President's new approach could help create a positive context for outreach. Post will discuss its contact-developing strategies in further detail septel. POPP