These statements by Lula on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas come at the worst time… Brazil holds the rotating presidency of the G20 countries and the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken must meet in this diplomatic framework, this Wednesday February 21, Brazilian President. Since Sunday, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has caused a storm by accusing Israel of committing a “genocide” of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, drawing a comparison between the Israeli offensive and the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis.
Since then, the two countries have engaged in a standoff. Israel summoned the Brazilian ambassador and Brazil took the same action with respect to the Israeli ambassador, while recalling its own representative for consultations. Lula was declared “persona non grata” on Monday by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who saw Lula’s remarks as “a serious anti-Semitic attack against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.”
Brazilian foreign minister accuses Israel of lies
This Tuesday, it was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil who defended his president. Mauro Vieira accused his Israeli counterpart of “lies”. The Israeli minister’s statements “yesterday (Monday) and today (Tuesday) are unacceptable in form, and false in substance”, he judged in front of journalists.
“That a chancellery addresses in this way the head of state of a friendly country, President Lula, is unusual and revolting. That a chancellery systematically resorts to distortion of declarations and lies is shocking and serious”, said the Brazilian minister in Rio de Janeiro, where the meeting of G20 heads of diplomacy opens on Wednesday.
Referring to “a shameful page in the history of Israeli diplomacy”, the head of Brazilian diplomacy castigated the “anti-diplomacy” of the Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu. According to him, “the Israeli people do not deserve this dishonesty, which does not live up to the history of struggle and courage of the Jewish people.”
Earlier Tuesday, Israel Katz published a message on the social network “What a shame. Your comparison is immoral, delusional. A shame for Brazil and a spit in the face of Brazilian Jews,” he said.
Colombia and Bolivia defend Lula
On Tuesday, the presidents of Colombia and Bolivia, two neighboring countries of Brazil, expressed their support for Lula, in turn accusing Israel of “genocide”. “In Gaza, there is a genocide […] Lula only told the truth. Either the truth is defended or barbarism will destroy us,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X.
His Bolivian counterpart Luis Arce, for his part, congratulated the Brazilian leader “for telling the truth about the genocide committed against the valiant Palestinian people.”
Brazil and Colombia support South Africa’s historic case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for alleged violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
While the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken was on his way to Brasilia, his spokesperson declared Tuesday that the United States “obviously disagreed” with Lula’s comments, Matthew Miller adding that “we do not think that ‘there (is) a genocide in Gaza.’ This morning’s meeting promises to be lively.