Holocaust trivialized

Brazil’s president now unwelcome in Israel

Lula drew a comparison between the Gaza war and the Holocaust at an African Union summit.(Bild: APA/AFP/Brazilian Presidency/Ricardo STUCKERT)

Israel has made Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva an undesirable person. The reason for this is the comparison that Lula drew between the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Nazi genocide against the Jews during the Second World War.

The words were spoken at a summit of the African Union, which Lula attended in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. "What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is genocide," declared the left-leaning Brazilian president.

"This is not a war"
"This is not a war of soldiers against soldiers", he went on to say about the Israeli army's fight against the radical Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. "This is a war between a heavily armed army and women and children." Lula then added: "What is happening to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip has never happened before in history. Yes, it has happened: When Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

The actions of the Israeli army in Gaza are highly controversial.(Bild: AP)

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, 78-year-old Lula has repeatedly criticized Israel, but never as strongly as on Sunday in Addis Ababa. During the Holocaust, six million Jewish people were murdered in Europe during the Second World War.

By comparing this systematic genocide with the war, Israel accuses Lula of trivializing the Holocaust and insulting the Jewish people. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned Brazil's ambassador.

Israel: Lula should retract his statement
"It is a serious anti-Semitic attack. Tell President Lula on my behalf and on behalf of the citizens of Israel that he is persona non grata in Israel until he retracts it," Katz told the diplomat, according to his office. "We will neither forget nor forgive," he added.