Brazil’s President Has Compared Israel’s War On Gaza To Hitler’s Genocide Of Jewish People In WWII
Israel has since labeled Lula as a persona non grata and said he is not welcome in Israel until he apologizes for his comments.
Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula de Silva – commonly known as Lula – has compared Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, to the Nazi genocide of Jewish people in World War II, known as the Holocaust.
During a press conference on Sunday, Feb. 18, Lula told reporters that Israel’s war in the Gaza strip was a “genocide” and that the war was not between soldiers, but “between a highly prepared army and women and children”.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” he said.
Lula also called out western countries for suspending funding to the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – also known as UNRWA.
Countries including the US, UK, Germany, Japan and Sweden had suspended funding to UNRWA after Israel accused 12 UN workers in Gaza of working for Hamas in response to the International Court of Justice finding that there was a “plausible” case Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
Following Lula’s comments, Israel’s foreign minister announced that the country had labeled Lula a persona non grata, an unwelcome person, and added that the president is not welcome in Israel until he apologizes for his comments.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also criticized Lula’s comparison, calling it a trivialisation of the Holocaust and an attempt to attack the Jewish people and the right of Israel to self-defense.”
Meanwhile, Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela da Silva, defended her husband’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
“The speech referred to the genocidal government and not to the Jewish people, let’s be honest in our analysis,” she said, according to AP.
This is not the first time the Brazilian president has criticized Israel’s actions.
Last November, after meeting with Brazilian-Palestinians who had been able to evacuate Gaza, he condemned Israel for “killing innocent people without any criteria” in the Gaza Strip, adding it is equivalent to “terrorism”.
