The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, insisted this Friday (February 23, 2024) that Israel is committing a “genocide” against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, after comparing the Jewish state's actions to the Holocaust.
“What the government of the State of Israel is doing is not war, it is genocide because it kills women and children,” Lula said at an event in Rio de Janeiro.
These are the president's first comments after he sparked controversy on Sunday by comparing Israel's military operation in Gaza to the Holocaust.
After the statements, Israel declared Lula “persona non grata” and demanded his apology.
But the Brazilian president emphasized again on Friday: “It is a genocide, there are thousands of dead children and thousands are missing. Soldiers don't die, women and children die in the hospital. I don’t know if this isn’t genocide. What genocide is,” he exclaimed.
Accompanied by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the Brazilian head of state toughened his tone and declared that he would not change his “dignity for untruth” in response to the allegations made against him in recent days by the Israeli foreign minister. Cat.
“Soldiers don’t die, women and children die in hospitals. If this isn’t genocide, I don’t know what genocide is,” the progressive leader said.
The diplomatic crisis was triggered last week after a press conference by Lula in Ethiopia after attending an African Union summit where he considered the confrontation “between a very prepared army and women and children” had never been seen before took place in history, except “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
jc (efe, afp)