Venezuela's Maduro stands behind Lula on 'Israel'
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Venezuela's president backed the remarks of his Brazilian counterpart and stated during his show that the Israeli occupation was doing to the Palestinians what was done by Hitler to the Jewish people.
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shakes hands with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro prior to a meeting in Brasilia, Brazil on May 29, 2023. (AP)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro echoed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's recent remark after he accused "Israel" on Sunday of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, likening its crimes to Adolf Hitler's in Nazi Germany. This was not Lula's first time to draw such comparisons, nor was he the first world leader to do so.
During an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, the Brazilian President said, "What's happening in the Gaza Strip isn't a war, it's a genocide," detailing that Israeli troops were not fighting "soldiers against soldiers," but rather a highly prepared army against "women and children."
He expressed that what was going on in Palestine had happened in the past when Hitler "decided to kill the Jews."
Maduro himself in November expressed that the Israeli occupation's crimes against Palestinians "have surpassed the Holocaust, where millions of Jews were annihilated in Nazi detention camps in Germany."
During his weekly TV show, with Maduro and More, he argued that "Hitler was a construct, a monster created by the Western elites... As President Lula da Silva said, the Israeli government is doing the same thing to the Palestinians that Hitler did to the Jews: eliminating them."
He called on the necessity to "restore justice" in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Foreign Minister proclaimed Monday that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is not welcome in "Israel" unless he retracts the statements he made comparing the Israeli onslaught in Gaza to the Holocaust.
Unsurprisingly, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told the Brazilian ambassador that Lula's comments were "antisemitic" and would not be forgiven or forgotten.
Netanyahu calls Lula's comments 'Holocaust trivialization'
Responding to Lula's comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to them as "Holocaust trivialization" that aims to strip the Jewish people of the right to "self-defense".
He stated that comparing the occupation to Nazis and Hitler was "crossing a red line."
Netanyahu also dared to claim that "Israel's" attempt to "defend itself" was being done by "upholding international law."
He stated that he decided to summon the Brazilian ambassador to "Israel" for an "immediate reproach".
Lula has been repeatedly critical of the Israeli onslaught on Palestine. At a summit at the Arab League in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday, he criticized the United Nations for its failure to address international conflicts and harshly condemned "Israel's" actions in Gaza.
"Israel's behavior has no explanation: with the pretext of fighting Hamas, it is killing women and children," he said after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
There can be no peace without the establishment of a Palestinian State, Lula said, as he urged for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In November, Lula called "Israel's attitude toward children, toward women, "equal to terrorism," stressing that "there's no other way to put it."
