Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recalled his ambassador to Israel, Federico Mayer, after the Zionist State declared the Brazilian president persona non grata for comparing the Israeli genocide in Gaza to the Nazi-led holocaust during the African Union summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Many world leaders have already condemned the indiscriminate killing of defenseless Palestinian civilians, recognizing it as a genocide only comparable to Hitler’s Nazism. According to Reuters, sources with knowledge of internal discussions said on Monday that Brazil does not intend to retract President Lula’s comment.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments… In fact, it did happen when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” said Lula during the African Union’s 37th ordinary assembly in Addis Ababa on Sunday, February 18.
“It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army against [Palestinian] women and children,” added the Brazilian president.
Embaixador do Brasil em Tel Aviv é chamado de volta por Lula. Medida é uma resposta ao fato de Israel ter convocado o diplomata para uma reprimenda ao Brasil. Leia: https://t.co/xXd3cnCaFI pic.twitter.com/QEeVvmWBW1
— Folha de S.Paulo (@folha) February 19, 2024
Immediately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that President Lula had crossed a red line and Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz publicly declared the Brazilian president persona non grata in Israel, which would prevent him from visiting the country.
“Lula summons the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv. The measure is a response to the fact that Israel summoned its diplomat to reprimand Brazil,” Folha de São Paulo posted on social media without mentioning that the Zionist entity made a public spectacle by summoning the Brazilian diplomat in a fashion distant from diplomatic practices.
Standing at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Zionist Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz told Brazil’s Ambassador Federico Mayer that Israel “will not forget, and we will not forgive,” in a summoning ceremony heavily covered by local media. “In my name, and in the name of all Israeli citizens,” said Katz,
tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he retracts his statements.
On Sunday, Lula defined Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian Resistance as “genocide and massacre.” Then, stating that there has been no other similar moment in history except for “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” Many world leaders have made similar statements due to the atrocious genocidal campaign launched by the occupation entity against Palestinians, labeled by many as ethnic cleansing.
Gleisi Hoffmann, the president of Lula’s political movement, the Workers’ Party (PT), told Folha de São Paulo that Netanyahu “does not have the moral or political authority to point the finger at anyone.”
On October 7, the Palestinian Resistance led an attack on more than 20 Israeli settler communities, supposedly causing 1,200 deaths and nearly 5,500 injuries, capturing 253 hostages. Thereafter, Israel declared war and began a bombing campaign on Palestine, which has so far left 28,900 Palestinians dead, mostly children and women, as well as more than 68,800 injured.
However, Israeli news outlet Haaretz has recently reported that Israeli military helicopters and tanks killed many of the alleged 1,200 Israeli soldiers and civilians Tel Aviv claimed were killed by the Palestinian Resistance.