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Lula insists Israel wants to 'put an effective end to Palestinians in Gaza'

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that Israel intends to “eliminate the Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip, in a new statement after the open diplomatic crisis with Tel Aviv.

“The government of Israel actually wants to wipe out the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Is that. It is eliminating that territorial space with the Palestinian people so that they can occupy it. There is no other explanation,” Lula stressed in an interview with journalist Kennedy Alencar on the TV network! And the UOL portal, according to the preview provided by this media.

Lula reiterated that the Israeli attack is “genocide” because it puts “an army on a high level of readiness against women and children,” according to the excerpt shown to the media, which will broadcast the full interview on Tuesday evening.

However, the Brazilian president clarified that he did not use the word “Holocaust” in the statements he made on February 18, which opened a diplomatic crisis with Israel, and he considered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the one who made these statements. This interpretation.

On that occasion, during a statement to the press during a trip to Ethiopia, Lula stated that “what is happening with the Palestinian people did not exist in history, but rather existed (only) when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” In response to these words, Israel declared Lula persona non grata in the country and publicly rebuked the Brazilian ambassador to the Holocaust Museum. Brazil responded by recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations in protest against the “unacceptable”, “false” and “undeserved” accusations leveled against Lula by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

In his interview on Tuesday, Lula indicated that he did not expect the Israeli government to understand his words, given Netanyahu's temperament and ideology, and stressed that he would repeat them. However, he stressed that Brazil only seeks peace and stressed that it “was the first country” to condemn the “terrorist attack” carried out by Hamas on October 7. (Effy)