"It's A Genocide," Says Brazilian President On Israeli Aggression In Gaza (image@LulaOficial)
Lula da Silva, the Brazilian President, accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Lula compared Israel’s action with Adolf Hitler’s actions of exterminating Jews. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Lula’s comment as “crossing the red line”. Hamas, the resistance group of Gaza, called the comment as “an accurate description” of what Palestinians in Gaza are facing.
While attending an African Union summit at Addis Ababa, Lula told reporters that what is happening in Gaza “is not a war, it’s a genocide”. He said, “it’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army women and children”. He further added that what is happening to Palestinians in Gaza has not happened at any other moment in history, except “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews”.
The veteran leftist has earlier condemned Hamas attack October 7th attack on Israel as a “terrorist” act. However, the Brazilian leader has been critical of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign on Gaza.
Netanyahu called the Brazilian President’s remark as “Holocaust trivialisation and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and the rights of Israel to defend itself”. He called the comparison of Israel to the Holocaust of the Nazis and Hitler as crossing the red line.
Netanyahu also said he had decided with Israel’s Foreign Ministry to meet with the Brazilian ambassador in Israel for an immediate reproach.
Isaac Herzog, Israel President took a jibe at “leaders who atrociously accuse the nation state of Jewish people of the evil of Hitler’s deeds”. Herzog did not mention the name of his Brazilian counterpart. He said, the action was an “immoral distortion of history”.
Taking to his X account, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defence Minister said Lula is bringing great shame to his people and “violates the value of the free world”, by supporting Hamas, which he called a “terrorist organization”.
Lula da Silva also criticised the western countries’ move to halt UNRWA funding, a move which came after Israel accused its workers to be involved in October 7th attack. On the sidelines of the summit, Lula told Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh that Brazil will increase its own contribution to UNRWA, and urged other countries to do so.
He said, “when I see the rich world announce that it”s halting its contributions to humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, I just imagine how big these people”s political awareness is and how big the spirit of solidarity in their hearts is”. Lula further added that “we need to stop being small when we need to be big”.
