Brazilian radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claimed on Tuesday that the remarks that got him banned from Israel — in which he compared Israel’s self-defense actions against the genocidal terror organization Hamas to the Holocaust — did not happen as reported.
Lula, in an interview on the Brazilian channel RedeTV on Tuesday evening, justified his condemnation of Israel by claiming that the use of the word “Holocaust” was an “interpretation” of the Israeli government, specifically by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“First of all, I didn’t say the word ‘Holocaust.’ ‘Holocaust’ was the interpretation of the Prime Minister of Israel. It wasn’t mine,” Lula said. “The second thing is this: death is death.”
Over the course of February, Lula has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” and murdering “women and children” in its self-defense operations against Hamas, demanding the United Nations recognize “Palestine” as a state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Lula repeatedly condemned Israel during an official tour of Africa, eventually comparing Israel’s actions to that of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust in remarks given during a press conference following his participation at the 37 African Union Summit in Addis Ababa earlier this month.
“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 at the time.
Lula’s comparison soured already deteriorating diplomatic relations between Israel and Brazil. Lula instantly drew both praise from Hamas and a fierce condemnation from Israel, who declared Lula persona non grata and banned him from visiting Israel until he issued a formal apology and retracted his statements.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Lula’s top foreign policy advisor Celso Amorim have both said that Lula will not apologize. Amorim asserted over the weekend that Israel is the one that should “apologize before humanity” instead.
Lula continued his RedeTV interview by “reaffirming” Brazil’s position of condemning Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack, but said that he could not “see the Israeli army doing the same barbarity to innocent people.”
Lula stated that he has been calling for a ceasefire ever since the start of the self-defense operations and for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for the entry of food and medical aid.
“Brazil was the first country to condemn Hamas’ terrorist gesture,” Lula asserted. “The first country. But I can’t condemn Hamas’ terrorist gesture and see the state of Israel, through its army and its prime minister, doing the same barbaric thing to innocent people.”
“In other words, what we are calling for: for the shooting to stop, for food, medicine, doctors and nurses to arrive, so that we can have a humanitarian corridor and treat people. That’s it,” he continued.
Without directly naming Prime Minister Netanyahu, Lula stressed that he did not expect the Israeli government to “understand” his requests because, he said, he has “known that citizen [Netanyahu] for some time” and knows “what he thinks ideologically.”
Following Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack, the Brazilian government issued a statement where it expressed a “rejection of terrorism in any of its forms.” The statement, however, did not include a direct condemnation of Hamas and its actions.
Sources inside the Brazilian Foreign Ministry claimed to CNN Brasil in October that Lula’s intention was to allegedly avoid giving publicity to terrorist groups and that the same stance has been adopted in past conflicts. CNN Brasil nonetheless stated that sectors of the Brazilian government are sympathetic to Hamas and consider the terrorist group “important” for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.
A report published by the Argentine news agency Infobae on Monday claimed that Lula’s recent remarks and the Brazilian government’s continued condemnation of Israel are fueling fear of possible “lone-wolf” jihadist attacks and violent actions against Jewish communities.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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