“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula told reporters during the 37th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said it would summon the Brazilian ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as “disgraceful and grave”.
“This is a trivialisation of the Holocaust and an attempt to attack the Jewish people and the right of Israel to self-defence. Drawing comparisons between Israel and the Nazis and Hitler is to cross a red line,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
UN court to start hearing on Israeli occupation of lands claimed by Palestinians
UN court to start hearing on Israeli occupation of lands claimed by Palestinians
In a statement, the Brazilian Israelite Confederation said Lula’s remarks were a “perverse distortion of reality” and “offend the memory of Holocaust victims and their descendants” and accused his government of an “extreme and unbalanced” stance on the conflict.
“It’s not a war between soldiers and soldiers, it’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” he said.
UNRWA is facing a financial strain following Israel’s assertion that 12 out of its 13,000 staff members in Gaza were implicated in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.