Israel’s retaliatory actions have killed at least 29,092 people in Gaza (file photo)
Brasilia, Brazil:
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva likened Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust, sparking a diplomatic firestorm that saw Brazil recall its ambassador on Monday and Israel declare Lula “persona non grata” people”.
The row broke out the day before when Lula said the ongoing conflict in Gaza was “not a war, it is genocide” and compared it to “Hitler’s decision to massacre the Jews”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula had “crossed a red line” and Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Lula was “persona non grata in the state of Israel as long as he does not retract his remarks and apologize.”
Katz summoned Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Meyer to a meeting at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem on Monday.
In a tit-for-tat move, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry later said it also summoned Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, for a meeting later that day and recalled Meyer from Tel Aviv for consultations.
According to diplomatic sources, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Zoncina had a “harsh but appropriate” conversation over Vieira’s “performance” over the treatment of Meyer and Lula over the situation in Jerusalem. Out of dissatisfaction”.
That included Meyer being forced to listen to statements in Hebrew “without an interpreter and without knowing what was being said,” the source added.
G20 meeting
Lula, a 78-year-old veteran leftist whose country currently holds the G20 presidency, is a prominent voice for the global South.
His comments come as Brazil prepares to host a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, which will bring top diplomats including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Rio de Janeiro. , the divided Gaza conflict became an important issue.
The war began on October 7 with unprecedented attacks by Hamas that killed about 1,160 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli data.
According to Israel, Hamas agents have also taken approximately 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza and 30 of whom are presumed dead.
Israel’s retaliatory actions have killed at least 29,092 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest statistics from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territories.
political differences
After the Hamas attack, Lula denounced it as an act of “terror.”
But he has since begun publicly criticizing Israel’s response.
His latest comments on the conflict came at a news conference on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, prompting strong backlash at home.
The Brazilian-Israel Institute called his comments “vulgar” and warned they risked “fueling anti-Semitism”.
The Brazilian Federation for Israel called it a “distortion of reality that offends the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and their descendants.”
Hitler’s Germany systematically exterminated six million Jews—an estimated one-third of the world’s Jews—during the Holocaust.
After World War II, the newly formed state of Israel welcomed hundreds of thousands of survivors.
Lula’s conservative opponents also blasted his comments, which angered many in the powerful evangelical Christian community, which staunchly supports Israel.
Lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, posted on Hatred for the State of Israel.”
Meanwhile, political allies rushed to Lula’s defense. First Lady Rosangela “Janja” da Silva, a long-time member of the Workers’ Party, said his remarks “defended… women and children, who represent a large part of the conflict” Most victims.”
“His comments were in reference to the genocidal (Israeli) government, not the Jewish people,” she wrote on X.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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