Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has doubled down on his comments which compared Israel to Nazis and the war in Gaza to the Holocaust on Friday.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Brazilian president said, “In the same way that I said when I was in prison that I would not accept a deal to get out of jail and that I would not exchange my freedom for my dignity, I say: I will not exchange my dignity for falsehood.
I am in favor of the creation of a free and sovereign Palestinian state. May this Palestinian state live in harmony with the State of Israel. What the Israeli government is doing is not war, it is genocide. Children and women are being murdered. Don't try to interpret the interview I gave. Read the interview and stop judging me based on the speech of the Prime Minister of Israel.”
Da mesma forma que eu disse quando estava preso que eu não aceitaria acordo para sair da cadeia e que eu não trocaria a minha liberdade pela minha dignidade, eu digo: não troco a minha dignidade pela falsidade. Eu sou favorável à criação do Estado Palestino livre e soberano. Que…
— Lula (@LulaOficial) February 23, 2024
Lula had previously said, "What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment. In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews." He made these statements in an interview with journalists at a hotel he was staying at in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The president was previously in Cairo, where he met with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Widespread condemnation of comments
His initial comments were fiercely reprimanded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Lula’s comments “Shameful and grave,” and said they were “Holocaust trivialization and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and the right of Israel to defend itself.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on Brazil’s ambassador, Frederico Meyer, to come to Israel for a reprimand at Yad Vashem. While there, he said that Israel will “neither forget nor forgive” Lula’s comments.
Katz told the ambassador, “I brought you to a place that testifies more than anything else to what the Nazis and Hitler did to the Jews, including members of my family. The comparison between Israel’s just war against Hamas and the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazis is a disgrace and a severe antisemitic attack.”
Katz continued his speech saying, “In my name, and in the name of all Israeli citizens, tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he retracts his statements.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also made it clear in a meeting with Lula that he disagreed with the president’s statements.
"President Lula reaffirmed his wish for peace and an end to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip," the Brazilian government said. "Both agreed on the need for the creation of a Palestinian state," referencing Blinken’s support for a two-state solution.
Regardless of Lula’s comments, over 80% of the Brazilian public disagreed with his statements, according to a CNN Brazil poll. Neither Lula nor any official close to him has apologized for his statements, despite the public sentiment.