The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) slammed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s accusations that Israel is perpetrating a “genocide” in Gaza during remarks Sunday at an African Union summit. Da Silva likened the Jewish State’s war against Hamas to the Nazi Holocaust.
“The Brazilian President’s outrageous blood libel is morally repugnant, and we call for an immediate apology and retraction,” CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa said. The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) is a global coalition engaging more than 830 partner organizations and four million people in the common mission of fighting the world’s oldest hatred.
“These comments are merely meant to offend the Jewish People on the one hand while trying to demonstrate his socialist credentials for purely domestic purposes on the other. President Lula should stop using Jewish tragedies to score political points,” Dratwa said.
“To claim that the Jewish State’s right to self-defense against a genocidal fascist terrorist organization is incomparable to the extermination of Six Million Jews in the Holocaust. Even the smallest child in Brazil knows this, so the only conclusion we can take from this is it is grounded in a combination of hatred and political self-interest.”
Brazil is a Member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and Rio de Janeiro became the first city in Brazil last November to accept the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
“Despite the welcome adoption of IHRA in Rio a few months ago, it is clear that there is much work to be done in Brazil to ensure Antisemitism is taken seriously,” Dratwa added.
“Lula’s outrageous comments demonstrate the need, now more than ever, when antisemitism is skyrocketing, to ensure Jews are protected and hate and racist speech is considered out of bounds.”
Forty-five nations, including the US and most Western democracies, had adopted the IHRA working definition by the end of 2023.
