Both governments trade accusations on social media after Israeli Foreign minister called on Brazilian president to retract comparison to the Holocaust

02/21/2024

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Rodrigo Pacheco — Foto: Marcos Oliveira/Agência Senado

In another day of escalating tensions between Brazil and Israel, government ministers of President Lula and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu exchanged sharp criticisms on social media on Tuesday. The Israelis accused Mr. Lula of “denying the Holocaust” and persisted in demanding a retraction of his remarks, while members of the Brazilian government denounced the dissemination of “fake news” and characterized the statements from Tel Aviv as “unacceptable” and “outrageous.”

Domestically, the Lula administration is also grappling with the political implications of the crisis. Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco suggested that Mr. Lula apologize for the statement that sparked the diplomatic rift, while opposition lawmakers plan to file a motion for Mr. Lula’s impeachment.

Tuesday’s exchange of accusations began after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz mentioned Mr. Lula’s profile in a publication in which he demanded a retraction from the Brazilian government for comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust. “Millions of Jews around the world are waiting for your apology. How dare you compare Israel to Hitler?” wrote Mr. Katz in Portuguese on X.

On the same day, the official profile of the State of Israel responded sarcastically to a post from another account, unrelated to the diplomatic crisis, which asked: “What comes to mind when you think of Brazil?” The official profile of Israel shared the post with its followers, adding a question: “Before or after @LulaOficial went full on Holocaust denier?”

Brazil’s Minister of the Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom), Paulo Pimenta, responded to the provocation. Also on social media, he accused the Israeli foreign minister of spreading “fake news” against President Lula. Additionally, he stated that the Netanyahu administration thrives on the conflict with the Hamas terrorist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, to maintain power.

“At no time did the president criticize the Jewish people, nor did he deny the Holocaust. Lula condemns the massacre of civilians in Gaza by Netanyahu’s far-right government,” the Brazilian minister said.

At the end of the day, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira also reacted to Mr. Katz’s comments. He called them “unacceptable,” “untrue,” “unusual”, and “outrageous.” He also accused the Israeli government of creating a “smokescreen” to cover up a massacre of the population of the Gaza Strip.

“In addition to trying to sow divisions, it is trying to increase its visibility in Brazil to create a smokescreen to cover up the real problem of the ongoing massacre in Gaza, where 30,000 Palestinian civilians have already died, mostly women and children, and the population is subjected to forced displacement and collective punishment,” Mr. Vieira said.

Amid another day of tensions, the debate surfaced on the Senate floor. Also serving as the President of the National Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco argued that President Lula made a “misguided” statement by comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust.

“We are confident that this misguided remark does not represent the true purpose of President Lula, who is a world leader known for building dialogues and bridges between nations,” Mr. Pacheco said, before calling on President Lula to retract. “This is why we believe that a retraction of this statement would be appropriate,” he added.

The mention of the issue agitated the Senate session. Omar Aziz, a member of the governing coalition, asked how the President of the Senate could characterize what was happening in Gaza. He also defended Mr. Lula for “looking at what is happening” in the region.

Mr. Pacheco replied that he was not “creating a controversy” or “reprimanding” the president.

The leader of the government in the Senate, Jaques Wagner, also defended the president’s remarks but surprised by admitting that he had advised Mr. Lula to abandon the comparison with the Holocaust. Mr. Wagner, who is Jewish, said that he told Mr. Lula that he would “remove” the passage from the president’s speech.

“I’ve been a friend of President Lula’s for 45 years, and it was natural for me to pay him a visit yesterday [Monday] and say: I’m not going to take a word of what you said, except at the end, because in my opinion, you can’t bring up the Holocaust episode for any comparison, because it hurts the feelings, including mine, of family members lost in that episode,” he explained. “So, President [Pacheco], I want to tell you that I agree with you because I don’t think the comparison is appropriate,” he added.

Despite Mr. Pacheco’s suggestion, Mr. Lula’s aides are dismissing behind the scenes any possibility that he will apologize for the comparison. Moreover, Valor has learned that the government does not intend to respond to Mr. Pacheco, so as not to turn the dispute with Israel into a fight with Congress.

Opposition legislators are organizing a response to the episode. Congresswoman Carla Zambelli said she would file a motion for Mr. Lula’s impeachment on Wednesday. She argued that Mr. Lula had committed a crime of responsibility by “committing an act of hostility against a foreign nation, exposing the country to the risk of war or endangering its neutrality.” The motion has the support of 121 lawmakers, but privately congresspeople who signed the motion say the proposal has no chance of moving forward.

(Raphel Di Cunto contributed reporting.)

*Por Renan Truffi, Fabio Murakawa, Murillo Camarotto, Julia Lindner, Caetano Tonet — Brasília, Rio de Janeiro

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/