Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing "genocide" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and compared its war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jewish people. Al Jazeera reported.
"What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide," Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa where he was attending an African Union summit on Sunday.
Brazilian president added, "It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children".
He said, "What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews".
"What Hitler did to Jews is comparable to what Israel is doing to Palestinians and Gaza", He added.
In the Holocaust led by Hitler, the Nazis systematically killed six million Jews during World War II.
Israel slams the comments of Brazilian president. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he would summon Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks.
"No one will compromise Israel’s right to defend itself," Katz said on X, adding that the envoy would be summoned on Monday.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the comments 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.
78 year old politician had condemned the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel as a "terrorist" act the day it happened. But he has since grown vocally critical of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza.
Read more: Gaza War: Israel strikes on Rafah, killed 50
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