A range of Israeli officials on Sunday condemned the libelous claim of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who earlier that day compared Israel’s defensive war in Gaza to the genocidal actions of Adolf Hitler. The controversy’s timing was shrouded with a disturbing level of irony, coming less than 24 hours after Israeli President Isaac Herzog highlighted for the world the pro-Nazi ideology of Hamas that “hails the Holocaust.”
Herzog, on Sunday, expressed outrage at Silva’s comparison of Israel to Hitler—especially against the backdrop of Hamas’ own philosophy and massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7. “Just yesterday, I presented to the world at the Munich Security Conference a book found in Gaza praising and glorifying Hitler’s ideology and the Holocaust,” said Herzog in comments published by Israel. “Israeli soldiers are fighting a cruel terrorist organization which has as its stated goal the annihilation of the Jewish state… and yet, there are still leaders who atrociously accuse the nation state of the Jewish people of the evil of Hitler’s deeds.”
“I utterly condemn such accusations and the immoral distortion of history, and call on all world leaders to join me in condemning such actions unequivocally.”
Silva, on Sunday, was speaking to reporters in Ethiopia when he shifted a discussion on aid to the Palestinians to instead rail against Israel. After previously calling Israel’s military actions a “genocide”, per a transcript of Silva’s comments posted to the Brazilian Presidency’s website and translated by Google, Silva said, “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.”
Dani Dayan, chairman of the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel, said in a press release that it was “extremely disappointing that the Brazilian leader, a country of significant stature, would resort to distorting the Holocaust and propagating antisemitic sentiments in such a blatant manner.”
Calling Silva’s comments deeply hateful and displaying ignorance, Dayan said, “Drawing false comparisons between the defensive actions of a sovereign nation protecting its citizens from a terrorist incursion, which resulted in the tragic deaths of over 1,200 innocent [people], and the heinous atrocities committed by the Nazis, who systematically exterminated 6 million Jews, is unacceptable.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Silva “should be ashamed of himself.” Said Netanyahu, “By comparing Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization, to the Holocaust, President da Silva has disgraced the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis and demonized the Jewish state like the most virulent anti-Semite.”
Silva, in his comments, only briefly referenced Brazil’s past condemnation of Hamas, who are actually following in the Nazi’s footsteps. During Herzog’s presentation the day before, the Israeli president showed the world a book written by Hamas co-founder and former Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar entitled “The End of the Jews”.
An Israeli press release recapping Herzog’s comments noted the chapters in the book include titles such as “The world’s burning hatred for the Jews “, “The general corruption of the Jews” and “Reasons to expel the Jews”. The book cover depicts a dagger drawing blood from a Star of David and hands—which the Israeli press release identified as Jews—drowning in a sea of blood.
Said Herzog, “This book was written by Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of the founders of Hamas, a well-known political figure of Hamas. This book first of all says we should not recognize the fact that there are Jews and Jewish people, but most predominantly it hails the Holocaust. It hails what the Nazis have done, and calls for nations to follow what the Nazis have done.”
It’s not just Zahar: Hamas’ founding charter calls for the eradication of the State of Israel. Herzog noted that Hamas’ hatred extends to the goal of destroying the Jewish people, a hate expressed in the murderous attack on October 7.
Herzog, speaking in Munich just a short drive away from the Dachau Concentration Camp, called on the rest of the world—including Sunni Muslim nations—to respond to that hate. “We have to have a coalition of all the moderate forces in the world, fighting this ideology,” said Herzog, adding that “the moderate forces in the world include many Sunni countries because they will be attacked by the same jihadist as well.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, February 19, 2024)