Netanyahu calls president’s remarks “shameful and serious” and announces recall of Brazilian ambassador
02/19/2024
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President Lula — Foto: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil
President Lula sparked a diplomatic crisis with Israel on Sunday by comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to those of Adolf Hitler against the Jews and calling the attacks on Palestinians genocide. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Mr. Lula’s words “shameful and serious” and said he would recall Brazil’s ambassador to the country for a reprimand scheduled for this Monday.
“I wonder what the size of these people’s political conscience is, and what the size of their hearts of solidarity is, that they can’t see that what is happening in Gaza is not a war, but a genocide,” Mr. Lula said at a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was attending the African Union summit. “What is happening in Gaza and to the Palestinian people does not exist at any other time in history. In fact, it existed: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
The president had already raised the tone of his criticism of Israel since he managed to negotiate the rescue of Brazilians prevented from leaving Gaza. Palestinian officials estimate that nearly 29,000 people were killed in Gaza by Israel in response to Hamas attacks on October 7.
Mr. Netanyahu immediately pushed back the remarks, saying that comparing Israel to Nazi Holocaust and to Hitler “cross a red line,” he wrote on his X account “Israel is fighting for its defense and to guarantee its future.”
Mr. Lula’s remarks were also criticized by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Chancellor Israel Katz. “Accusing Israel of committing a holocaust is outrageous and abhorrent,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Mr. Katz said afterwards that “President Lula is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back.”
Mr. Gallant also accused Brazil’s president of defending Hamas. According to the Al Jazeera network, the terrorist group said it “appreciated” Mr. Lula’s remarks comparing the Gaza conflict to the Holocaust, calling the comments an “accurate description” of what the Palestinians face.
In light of the announcement that Brazil’s ambassador to Israel, Frederico Meyer, has been summoned, the internal orientation in the Foreign Affairs Ministry is to wait and avoid aggravating the crisis. The idea is to listen to the diplomat’s report on the meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, scheduled for this Monday, and to assess the next steps.
For Oliver Stuenkel, professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Mr. Lula’s comparison goes beyond criticizing Mr. Netanyahu’s government and should negatively affect his image in the eyes of the West.
Mr. Lula’s comments are attracting attention abroad, Mr. Stuenkel said, because the comparison with the Holocaust “goes far beyond” criticizing Israel, accusing it of violating international law and even accusing it of committing genocide.
“After all, the Holocaust, unprecedented in human history, is very different from other genocides because Germany developed an industrial scale strategy to exterminate 6 million Jews.”
In the West, the comment will be seen by many as “inflammatory and anti-Semitic” and will negatively affect the Brazilian president’s image, Mr. Stuenkel said.
“In the Global South, however, where criticism of Israel is more common in the context of the Gaza war, the comparison may be seen as an exaggeration, but it probably shouldn’t be viewed with the same concern as in the West,” he added.
Regarding the summoning of the Brazilian ambassador to Israel for talks, Mr. Stuenkel said that this is a gesture used in diplomacy to express annoyance, but added that others could be more serious, such as recalling the Israeli ambassador to Brasília for consultations.
On the domestic front, the opposition and the Brazil-Israel parliamentary front also reacted to Mr. Lula’s remarks. The leader of the Progressive Party (PP) in the Senate, Ciro Nogueira, former chief of staff in the Bolsonaro administration, called Mr. Lula’s statements a disgrace.
“President Lula, comparing the Holocaust to Israel’s military response to the terrorist attacks it has suffered is shameful,” Mr. Nogueira posted on social media. “The Holocaust is incomparable and can never be trivialized. On behalf of Brazilians, we apologize to the world and all Jews,” he added.
An official statement from the Brazil-Israel Parliamentary Group condemned the president’s remarks as “biased and dishonest.” “Inconsistent statements like these and others in recent days show historical ignorance and a lack of balance in the presidency of our country,” the group said.
The president of the Workers’ Party, Congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann, said that Mr. Lula’s statement was “directed at the extreme right-wing government of Israel, and not at the Jews or the Israeli people,” denouncing Mr. Netanyahu’s reaction as “manipulation.”
*Por Vinicius Assis, Andrea Jubé, Daniela Braun, Anaïs Fernandes — Addis Ababa, Brasília, São Paulo
Source: Valor International