Brazil’s president sparked a row on Monday when he accused Israel of “killing innocent people without any criteria” in the Gaza Strip, deeming its actions there “as serious” as the October 7 attacks by the Hamas terror group.
“After the terrorist attack provoked by Hamas, the consequences and solution of the State of Israel are as serious as those of Hamas,” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at a ceremony in Brasilia where he welcomed Brazilians evacuated from Gaza.
“They kill innocent people without any criteria,” Lula said. He also accused Israel of “dropping bombs where there are children or hospitals under the pretext that a terrorist is there.”
“They don’t kill soldiers, they kill children,” he told reporters at the Brasilia air base, claiming the number of women and children killed or missing was unprecedented.
Lula, 78, who hugged and kissed returnees on the tarmac, said he had “never” seen “such brutal and inhumane violence against innocent people.”
“This is inexplicable.” “First you have to save the women and children, then you fight with whoever you want,” said Lula.
But representatives of Brazil’s Jewish community condemned his comments as “wrong,” “unfair” and “dangerous.”
They said the comments put “Israel and Hamas on the same level” and defended the Israeli authorities’ “visible and proven” efforts to “rescue Palestinian civilians.”
“Our community expects balance from our authorities,” the Israeli Confederation of Brazil, which says it represents about 120,000 Brazilian Jews, the second largest community in the region, added in a statement.