Israeli embassy in Brazil protests comments by Lula’s party on Gaza

The Israeli embassy in Brazil protested Tuesday against a resolution by the party of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that accuses Israel of “genocide” and “war crimes.”

“It is very unfortunate that a party that defends human rights compares the terrorist organization Hamas, which goes from house to house to murder entire families, with what the Israeli government is doing to protect its citizens,” the embassy in Brasilia posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“There must be a strong separation between the Hamas terrorist organization and the Palestinians,” the embassy added, in response to a resolution published Monday by the Lula’s Workers Party, or PT.

The text by the PT, co-founded by Lula in 1980, condemned “the unacceptable attacks, murders and kidnappings of civilians, committed by both Hamas and the State of Israel, which is carrying out, at this very moment, a genocide against the population of Gaza, through a series of war crimes.”

The party hit back at the embassy’s comments on Tuesday, calling the interpretation of its resolution “false” and “malicious.”

And it blamed Israel for a strike on a hospital in Gaza Tuesday that has left hundreds dead.

“Whoever represents in Brazil the government that carries out an attack of this nature has no moral authority to speak of human rights,” said the Workers’ Party.

Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7. Israel has bombed Gaza in retaliation and warned of a ground invasion, with thousands of people killed in the fighting so far.

Lula has called for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Gaza.