Brazil’s Lula says he did not compare Israel’s conduct to the Holocaust

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claimed he did not use the word “holocaust” in his remarks regarding Israel that subsequently got him banned from the country, Lula said during an interview with Brazilian RedeTV this Tuesday.

“First, I did not say the word holocaust, that was the interpretation of the Prime Minister of Israel, it was not mine,” claimed the president.

Lula maintained that he believes Israel is guilty of committing genocide against Gazan civilians, adding that he didn't expect Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to understand his original statement.

“I didn't expect the Israeli government to understand. I know (Netanyahu), I know what he thinks ideologically,” Lula added before again describing Israel’s war effort against the terror group Hamas as a ”war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”

The Brazilian President, who has voiced his support for the Palestinian cause numerous times throughout his political career, also questioned the number of Hamas members who had been reported dead by Israel – insinuating that Israel is killing more civilians than they would like to admit.

“How many Hamas people were presented dead? You invent certain lies and start working as if they were true,” Lula said.

Lula’s comments draw ire at home and abroad

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva compared Israel's war against Hamas to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' extermination of Jews in the Holocaust earlier this month when speaking to reporters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment... in fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews," Lula said in a statement that led to Lula being banned from entering Israel until the statement is retracted.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu termed Lula’s comments “Shameful and grave,” and said they amounted to “Holocaust trivialization and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and the right of Israel to defend itself.”

The next day, Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned Brazil’s ambassador, Frederico Meyer, for a reprimand – not in the Foreign Ministry, as is usual practice, but, rather at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum – where said that Israel will “neither forget nor forgive” Lula’s comments.  

A CNN Brasil poll on Monday found that eight of 10 Brazilians – or 83% of those polled – took issue with Lula’s comparison.

The CNN Brasil poll found that 57% of the 800 respondents thought that Israel is on the right side in this conflict, while 28% sided with Hamas. Additionally, 26% said that Brazil should support Israel in this war, another 14% said the Palestinians, while 54% said the country should stay neutral – something Lula’s government is not doing. In the first two months after the war, support for Israel, as evident in various polls, was running at between 70% and 80%.

Gadi Zaig and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.