Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has reportedly accused Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” in the Gaza Strip and drawn a parallel to Nazi Germany’s Holocaust against Jews during World War II.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula said, according to Reuters. “It’s not a war between soldiers and soldiers, it’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried Lula’s comments as “shameful.”
“The words of the president of Brazil are shameful and serious,” Netanyahu said, according to a Google translation of a Hebrew-language post on X. “This is about trivializing the Holocaust and trying to harm the Jewish people and Israel’s right to defend itself. Comparing Israel to the Nazi Holocaust and Hitler is crossing a red line. Israel fights for its defense and securing its future until complete victory and it does so while upholding international law. I decided with Foreign Minister Israel Katz to summon the Brazilian ambassador to Israel for a stern reprimand conversation immediately.”
Brazil’s president recalled his ambassador to Israel home to Brazil “for consultations,” a statement from Brazil’s foreign ministry noted, according to the New York Times, which also reported that the South American nation’s foreign minister summoned the Israeli ambassador to meet in Rio de Janeiro.
Israel has been waging war in response to horrific terror attacks perpetrated last October, which included murders, rapes, and abductions.
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