If there's one thing Brazil's socialist president Lula da Silva loves more than anything else, it's his voice.
He repeatedly faces a difficult situation due to his public appearances, often regarding issues that are not in Brazil's strategic interest.
After burning his tongue with Russia and China by proposing “creative solutions” to the Ukraine war, Lula began to toe the Kremlin line on most, if not all, contemporary geopolitical issues.
While the Western world was gathering for the Munich Security Conference, Lula was in Ethiopia to attend the summit of the African Union – an organization of which Brazil, located in South America, is not a member.
So, Lula decided he needed to have his say on the state of war in the Middle East. There is absolutely no upside for Brazilian diplomacy and national interest for the president to be caught up in the maze of controversial assessments.
Needless to say, 87% of the reactions to Lola's verbal diarrhea on social media were negative.
– Paul Serran (@paul_serran) February 19, 2024
The inevitable result of Lula's desire to make his voice heard and anger the planet is that Israel harshly condemned him after he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and compared its actions to the Holocaust.
The Israeli Foreign Minister described Lula's statements as anti-Semitic, and the main Jewish organization in Brazil also criticized Lula's statements.
BBC reported:
Speaking from the African Union summit in Ethiopia, Lula said: What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it was there when Hitler decided to kill the Jews. […] It is not a war of soldiers against soldiers. “It is a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”
His latest statements come at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving forward with his attack on Rafah, to which about 1.5 million people have fled.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in response: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.” He said in a statement, “Comparing Israel to the Holocaust and Hitler crosses a red line.”
The Times of Israel reported:
“Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the son of Holocaust survivors, takes Brazilian Ambassador Federico Mayer to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to rebuke him for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's likening of the Israeli campaign against Hamas to the Holocaust.
In front of the cameras, Katz tells Mayer that Lula is not welcome in Israel. 'We will not forget and we will not forgive. It is a serious anti-Semitic attack. In my name and in the name of the citizens of Israel – tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back.”
“I brought you to a place that bears witness more than anything else to what the Nazis and Hitler did to Jews, including my family members,” Katz says. “Comparing Israel’s just war against Hamas to the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazis is shameful.”
Read more:
Ironic: Brazilian Communist President Lula attacks Israel again and downplays Hamas terrorism
