In one of his sharpest attacks on Israel, Brazilian President Lula da Silva this Sunday compared what he called the massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces to the persecution and deaths carried out by Hitler against Jews. The statements were made during a press conference held in Addis Adeb, the capital of Ethiopia, where Lula took part as a special guest at the 37th African Union summit, bringing together heads of state and government from 55 African countries.
“What is happening in Gaza does not exist at any other point in history, in fact it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews. Israel is repeating in Gaza the genocide that Hitler carried out against the Jews.” President of Brazil, attacking the government of Benjamin Netanyahu for the second day in a row and causing a chorus of protests from Jewish organizations in Brazil and the Israeli government itself, which summoned its ambassador to Brasilia for consultations, a measure considered harsh in diplomatic practice.
The previous day, in his opening speech at the 37th African Union Summit, the Brazilian head of state had already raised the issue of Israel’s brutal response to the equally brutal Hamas attacks on Israeli territory on October 7 last year. As for Lula, he stressed on Saturday, Israel’s response to Hamas attacks has been disproportionate, and the Israeli military, which had every right to respond, is nevertheless targeting women and children, which is unacceptable and inexplicable.
“When I see the rich world announce that it will stop contributing to the Palestinians’ humanitarian problem, I wonder how big their political consciousness is and how big their supporting hearts are that don’t see it in the war. Genocide is taking place in the Gaza Strip. This is not a war between soldiers. This is a war between a well-prepared army, women and children,” the Brazilian President confirmed this Sunday, shortly before starting his return trip to Brazil, even more decisive than the day before and once again provoking the wrath of the Jewish world, including the Israeli Confederation Brazil (CIB), which classified these statements as an offensive distortion of history.