Israel's Netanyahu slams Brazilian president's comparison of Gaza war to the Holocaust

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

Updated 2:42 PM CST, February 18, 2024

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (AP) — Israel on Sunday condemned Brazil’s president for comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of being antisemitic and trivializing the Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II.

The outcry further strained relations between the countries, which have deteriorated since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to office last year. Lula has portrayed himself as a leader of the “ Global South,” a loosely defined group of developing countries.

Speaking to reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia, Lula said that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

Such comments strike a raw nerve in Israel, a country established as a haven for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. Israel rejects any comparisons of its conduct in the war in Gaza to the Holocaust.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-brazil-netanyahu-lula-holocaust-7e4f43bb0e0ad8befe37a65fede8ffa0

[OilemFirchen]

1. It was an especially disgusting thing for Lula to say.

He should be rightly ostracized by the entire world community.

[thomski64]

3. ..what Netanyahu is doing to

..the civilian population in Gaza might be more nearly compared to the fire bombing of Dresden, or perhaps Nagasaki (one obliteration should have made the point) maybe the utter destruction of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis. Looks to me like Hamas intended to provoke this exact overkill response. To insure a forever war. No one can obliterate human life quite so gleefully as the religiously justified on both sides of this....

[OilemFirchen]

4. Oh, bullshit.

BTW, the Nazis tried the Dresden Defense at Nurenburg, taking the opposite but "morally" equivalent tack as you. They failed, as you have. In fact, the rejection of this attempt helped form modern international law.

To borrow from The (esteemed) Magistrate: One of these things is not like the other.

[orangecrush]

2. Bibi's game plan

Is to cost Biden the election.

[tornado34jh]

5. For those who don't know what Global South is

It's really synonymous with something called the Group of 77, although it is now 134 countries. It basically excludes countries in Europe, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Most of these are postcolonial countries. However, the term dates back to the Cold War. But remember, Brazil along with Argentina had many Nazis escape there. In fact, the Southern Cone, which includes Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, had many Nazis or at least people that supported Nazism. Many, if not most of the people in southern Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile are more European-like.

But make no mistake, what South Africa and Brazil are saying and doing (the former going to the ICJ), are part of a growing trend, especially in post-colonial countries, in that they see what is going on in Palestine is like colonialism. For those in Latin America, who were part of the Spanish empire (Portuguese for Brazil), they see them as liberators.

Basically, you better believe that this won't be the first nor the last time this will occur, especially since a lot of these countries are trying to find their way in the world.

[cstanleytech]

6. I'm not a fan of Netanyahu and I believe he should be removed from office but if he really wanted to exterminate the

people of Gaza an easier way that would not cost the lives of any Israeli soldiers would have been to drop 2 or 3 neutron bombs and then call it a day.
That then would have been at Holocaust level.

[TeamProg]

7. The point that I'm not seeing here is that when MORE THAN ONE world leader makes the comparison, that isn't good.

Now is it.

[ShepKat]

8. was just thinking this yesterday

this jewish household is seeing bibbi trying to outdo adolph, as in a land roughly 25 miles long and 5 miles wide, 140 square miles... how many have been exterminated so far ? Bibbi is just slaying no matter who.

[EX500rider]

9. Please, if the IDF wanted genocide the death toll would be in the 100's of thousands by now

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Godwin's Law needs a serious update.

It would be nice to see it updated so Jew-hating assholes and anti-Israel bigots couldn't just invoke the Holocaust every time the bigots/crusaders/freedom fighters were irritated with Jew people.