The president's speech hit like a bombshell: “What is happening in the Gaza Strip and with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment. In fact, it was like this: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
I don't know if it was his intention, but that's what Lula achieved: he further cooled Brazil's relations with the democratic world and ensured that the IsraeliPalestinian conflict was once again the central topic of Brazil's public debate last 24 hours.
And for a good reason. The comparison is strange. The Israeli bombing of Gaza is disproportionate, it must be publicly denounced like so many bombings in so many wars, present and past but it is not genocide.
Israel is engaged in a ceaseless bombing campaign against an enemy that has attacked it, always targeting militants and taking measures to reduce the inevitable deaths of civilians. At least that's what he claims, without any of those accusing him of genocide including South Africa and Brazil having yet attempted to refute this. Furthermore, the Nazi genocide had unique characteristics—such as the industrial organization of mass murder—that made it even more monstrous.
Furthermore, it is clear that the use of the Hitler comparison for the State of Israel would be considered offensive by Israelis and many Jews around the world. With just one speech, Lula managed to be declared persona non grata in Israel and to receive effusive praise from none other than Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip and seeks to destroy Israel.
Apparently, the main line of our foreign policy was maintaining pragmatic neutrality and dialogue with everyone. At the moment it doesn't look very neutral. Do Lula and his international advisers want to play the role of mediators in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and perhaps seal peace when so many others have failed? Do you expect that you will be more successful in this than in mediating between Russia and Ukraine?
Janja and Celso Amorim were enthusiastic about Lula's speech. The Israeli foreign minister called it an “antiSemitic attack.” I stand by the diagnosis of the French diplomat Gérard Araud former ambassador to Washington who defined Brazil's position in international politics as: “A third worldism so cartoonish that it even defends North Korea.” To be honest, have Lula and Amorim have not yet reached this point. Still.
If the reaction in the world was not good, here in Brazil it was terrible for the government. According to the research agency Quaest, 90% of the mentions on the subject which swept the networks in the last two days were negative for the president. The opposition has been up and down, even talking about impeachment (of course that won't happen), and Bolsonaro still has Lula to thank for taking the coup attempt out of the spotlight.
Lula won the elections by a narrow margin. In this polarization of two large blocs, the small group of liberals and independents proved to be the balance that guaranteed victory. Since Lula disagrees with the majority in order to please a radicalized base that will vote for the left anyway, he is slightly more likely to be rejected by moderates. If the opposition emerges with a leadership that does not attack democracy like Bolsonaro, this kind of irresponsible positioning could exact a heavy price later.