Rabat – In light of the deadly war that Israel continues to wage upon Gaza, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula made a statement on Sunday during the 37th Summit of the African Union (AU), comparing the war to the Holocaust.
This statement angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said in a response on social media that “comparing Israel to the Nazii Holocause and Hitler is crossing a red line.” He also accused Lula of “trivialising the Holocaust and trying to harm the Jewish people and Israel’s right to defend itself.”,
During the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Lula stated that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments.” However, soon after he added; “It did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
Until the start of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the Holocaust was perhaps considered to be one of humanity’s most merciless acts to date, in which Nazis killed six million Jews in Europe during World War II.
However, the current situation in Gaza has brought new historical atrocities, as the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are responsible for killing more than 29,000 Palestinians in the ongoing brutal aggression against civilians, particularly women and children.
Lula’s statement has also angered other Israeli officials, such as Israel Katz, Israel’s Foreign Minister, who expressed his outrage on X, formerly known as Twitter, condemning Lula’s words to be “shameful and egregious.”
In a contrasting response, Hamas praised Lula’s comments in a statement on social media and expressed appreciation for his compassion concerning the perilous situation that the innocent civilians of Gaza are currently facing.
As the death toll surpasses 29,000, Palestinians in Gaza are forced to continue living in precarious conditions, their lives fraught with danger, in the hope that world leaders will act to call for an immediate ceasefire.
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