Why did President Lula finally decide to attract more rain and thunderstorms at home and abroad by officially announcing his support for Israel's genocide trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague? That was not necessary. Countries do not vote on the court and do not interfere in the outcome. It was enough to watch closely and wait to see what would happen, as China and Russia, the two main members of the BRICS, did.
The explanation behind the scenes, or rather in the palaces, is the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, which has turned into a huge children's cemetery after Israel responded to the Hamas terrorist attack by pouring its anger and strength on the strip, which which houses Palestinians. But outside Oscar Niemeyer's glasswalled offices, the interpretation is different: the ideological position of Lula and the PT against Israel.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at a meeting in the Palácio do Planalto Photo: Ricardo Stuckert / PR continues after advertising
After notes from the BrazilIsrael Institute and the Israeli Confederation of Brazil (Conib) calling for the tradition of “balance and moderation” in Brazilian foreign policy, came the equally harsh but learned letter from former Chancellor Celso Lafer, from one Jewish family in Lithuania, professor emeritus at the USP Faculty of Law and specialist in international law.
The letter, addressed to Chancellor Mauro Vieira but published publicly, rejects the accusation of “genocide” in light of the law and accuses South Africa, the author of the petition to the Court, of trying to delegitimize the State of Israel and grow globally AntiSemitism, “in line with those who seek to undermine Israel’s right to exist.”
“It is a conceptual slipup to use the attribution of genocide to discuss legal controversies related to the application of humanitarian law and humanitarian problems in Gaza,” Lafer teaches, accusing the government’s position of lacking consistency, coherence and obedience before the rules of international law.
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The day before, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its 2023 report, in which it criticized Brazil for failures in combating police violence and also in four international conflicts: Lula's “controversial statements” about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the defense of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and inaction on violations in Nicaragua and China's crimes against the Uighurs.
However, there is no reference to Brazil in connection with the Israeli War. Perhaps because HRW's focus is obviously on human rights and not on foreign policy and formal international law. But HRW is an NGO, Brazil is a country. One thing is the opinion of independent organizations, another is the official position of a state in a conflict that, as always, has two sides.