Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at the center of a diplomatic crisis with Israel, denied on Tuesday February 27 having described the Israeli offensive in Gaza as a
“Holocaust”
, saying that it was an
“interpretation »
of his remarks by Benyamin Netanyahu.
"I didn't use the word
'Holocaust'."
“‘Holocaust’
was
(an)
interpretation of the Israeli prime minister, it was not mine
,” Lula declared in an interview with the RedeTV channel, according to a broadcast extract.
“I didn't expect the Israeli government to understand this because I have known this citizen... for some time now.
I know his ideology
,” he added, referring to Benjamin Netanyahu.
On February 18, Lula accused Israel of engaging in
“genocide”
in the Gaza Strip, triggering a diplomatic storm.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is a genocide
,” Lula declared on the sidelines of an African Union summit.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has not happened at any other time in history.
In fact, this has already happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews
,” he added.
Israel protested these statements and declared Lula
persona non grata
, demanding his apology.
Israeli authorities also summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv.
For its part, Brazil recalled its ambassador for consultations and summoned the Israeli ambassador to Brasilia.
“The Israeli government actually wants to eliminate the Palestinians”
Lula repeated Tuesday that Prime Minister Netanyahu
“is carrying out genocide against women and children”
in the Gaza Strip, saying it was a
“historical fact”
.
“The Israeli government actually wants to eliminate the Palestinians”
from this territory, he said.
The left-wing president, whose country chairs the G20 this year, had previously condemned
“the terrorist attacks”
of October 7, when Hamas fighters killed 1,160 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped some 250 in the southern Israel, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
But he is increasingly openly critical of the Israeli military response, during which nearly 30,000 people died in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Palestinian territory.