Brazil's Lula calls for Palestinian state in 'harmony' with Israel, doubles down on 'genocide' claims
'If this is not genocide, I do know what genocide is' says the Brazilian president about the Israeli war in Gaza against Hamas
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva once again accused Israel of perpetrating "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, after recently triggering a diplomatic crisis by comparing Israel's offensive against Hamas to the Holocaust.
"What the State of Israel is doing is not a war, it's a genocide, because it's killing women and children", Lula repeated at a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, adding “if this is not genocide, I do know what genocide is.”
The Brazilian president then took to twitter, reiterating his genocide claim and calling for a Palestinian state to be established, “to live in harmony with the state of Israel.”
“I am in favor of the creation of a free and sovereign Palestinian State. May this Palestinian State live in harmony with the State of Israel,” he posted on X.
In terms of the ongoing war and his genocide claim, Lula said “Don't try to interpret the interview I gave. Read the interview and stop judging me based on the speech of the Prime Minister of Israel.”
A diplomatic storm was caused by the Brazilian president comparing the war in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust. The Israeli foreign minister immediately summoned Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand, which took place at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center.
In response to Lula’s claim there was “no equivalent” to what was happening in Gaza, except for when “Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” the Israeli foreign minister highlighted to Brazil’s ambassador a Book of Names memorial with the names of 4.8 million mostly Jewish people that perished in the Holocaust, which the small population only in recent years managed to return to pre-World War 2 numbers. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the diplomatic incident “serious,” as a “trivialization of the Holocaust.”
However, a poll carried out by CNN Brasil indicated Brazil’s president set himself apart from the people, with eight out of ten Brazilians (83 percent of those questioned) who disputed Lula's comparison of Gaza and the Holocaust. In addition, 57 percent responded that Israel is on the right side of the conflict, while 28 percent sided with Hamas.