Colombia, Bolivia back Brazil’s Lula in Israel row over Gaza war comments | Israel War on Gaza News

South American allies voice ‘solidarity’ with Brazil after Israel lambasts Lula for evaluating conflict on Gaza with Holocaust.

Colombia and Bolivia are backing Brazil as its diplomatic row with Israel escalated after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, evaluating its actions with the Holocaust.

Gustavo Petro and Luis Arce, the presidents of Colombia and Bolivia respectively, each expressed “solidarity” with Lula on Tuesday, after he was slammed by Israel for calling its war on Gaza a “genocide” in opposition to Palestinians and compared it with Adolf Hitler’s marketing campaign to exterminate the Jewish individuals throughout the Holocaust.

“In Gaza there’s a genocide and hundreds of kids, ladies and aged civilians are cowardly murdered,” Petro stated on X. “Lula has solely spoken the reality and the reality is defended or barbarism will annihilate us. The whole area should unite to right away finish the violence in Palestine.”

Expreso mi solidaridad integral al presidente Lula del Brasil. En Gaza hay un genocidio y se asesina cobardemente a much de niños, mujeres y ancianos civiles.
Lula solo ha dicho la verdad y la verdad se defiende o la barbarie nos aniquilará.

Toda la región debe unirse para que…

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 20, 2024

Arce additionally took to social media to hyperlink arms with Lula. “Historical past won’t forgive those that are detached to this barbarity,” he wrote. The Brazilian president, he stated, had advised the reality in regards to the genocide being dedicated in opposition to the “courageous Palestinian individuals”.

Desde el Estado Plurinacional de #Bolivia expresamos toda nuestra solidaridad y apoyo al hermano presidente de #Brasil, @LulaOficial, declarado “persona no grata” en #Israel por decir la verdad sobre el genocidio que se comete contra el valiente pueblo palestino. La historia no… pic.twitter.com/VAERz9dwRl

— Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (Lucho Arce) (@LuchoXBolivia) February 20, 2024

The row blew up on Sunday, tensions deepening when Israeli Overseas Minister Israel Katz labelled Lula’s feedback “promiscuous, delusional”, declaring him “persona non grata” in Israel. “It’s not too late to be taught historical past and apologize,” he wrote on X.

In response, Brazilian Overseas Minister Mauro Vieira described Katz’s feedback as “outrageous” and “unacceptable of their nature and mendacity of their content material”.

“For a overseas ministry to deal with a head of state from a pleasant nation on this means is uncommon and revolting,” he advised reporters on the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The episode, he stated on Tuesday, was “a shameful web page within the historical past of Israel’s diplomacy”.

Diplomatic retaliation

Within the aftermath of Lula’s feedback, Katz summoned Brazil’s ambassador Frederico Meyer for a gathering on Monday on the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem.

In a tit-for-tat transfer, the Brazilian Ministry of Overseas Affairs then summoned the Israeli ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshinem, and recalled Meyer from Tel Aviv for consultations.

Veteran leftist Lula, 78, is a outstanding voice for the International South and his nation holds the rotating presidency of the G20.

Whereas he had initially described the Hamas-led assault on October 7 as a “terrorist” act, he has since grown vocally essential of Israel’s response.

His feedback got here as Brazil prepares to host a G20 overseas ministers’ assembly on Wednesday and Thursday, with prime diplomats together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov gathering in Rio de Janeiro.