This archive report was first published on 9 July 2019.
On Sunday, ahead of the Copa America soccer final between Brazil and Peru, Israeli Ambassador Yossi Shelley and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro shared a photo of their lunch on the Israeli embassy's official Twitter account.
However, the photo was soon doctored by social media users, who scribbled out the contents of their plates in black, sparking a heated debate about the kosher dietary rules.
According to Jewish kosher dietary rules, fish with fins and scales are allowed to be eaten, but shellfish, like pork, are forbidden.
Twitter user Lorde Ingles decried the doctored photo, saying, "The lobster was censored!" The photo was liked nearly 2,700 times and drew a thousand comments.
Another Twitter user, Vudu Reverso, posted a photo of the men with the offending meal cropped out and the message: "Guys, did any of us stop to think that it was enough to crop the photo?"
Yet another user, Xamander, shared a digitally-manipulated version of the photo showing unidentified meat and rice decorated with a smiley face on the ambassador's plate.
As of the publication date of July 9, 2019, the Israeli embassy had not responded to AFP's request for comment on why the photo was doctored.
