Brazilian president draws parallels between the Israeli offensive in Gaza and Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust against Jews.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas hailed Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for describing the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip as a “genocide.”
Da Silva on Sunday accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and comparing its war on the Palestinian enclave to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust against Jews.
“This statement is an accurate description of what our people are exposed to and it reveals the enormity of the Israeli crime that is being committed with a US cover and open support,” Hamas said in a statement.
Hamas urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider the Brazilian president’s comments “regarding the violations and atrocities against the Palestinian people…that have never been seen in modern history.”
Speaking to reporters in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit, Da Silva said Sunday that “what’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide.”
“It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” he added.
“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,” he remarked.