Lula: Hamas’s actions do not justify Israel’s killing of innocents
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday (Oct. 24) criticized Israel’s reaction to the attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. “It’s not because Hamas committed a terrorist act against Israel that this country should kill millions of innocent people,” he said on the weekly program Conversa com o Presidente, broadcast on Canal Gov.
President Lula said he had already talked to leaders of several nations—including Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, France, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates—with a view to mediating a solution to the conflict. Talks are also planned with leaders from China, South Africa, and Qatar, he noted.
“I’m talking to everyone so we can achieve three things. First, guaranteeing the humanitarian corridor so people can receive water, food, and medicine; ensuring there’s no shortage of electricity in hospitals so people can receive treatment; and ensuring that no more children are killed. There’s no example of a war in the world in which it is children who die the most. And I’m referring to children on both sides. We don’t want anyone to die.”
The president recalled the UN resolution that demarcated territories for Israelis and Palestinians and spoke of the importance of negotiation: “At a negotiating table, no one dies. It costs less and we can find a solution. We need to make sure that there, in the Middle East, Israel keeps the territory that’s theirs, as demarcated by the UN, and that the Palestinians have the right to their land. It’s as simple as that, and there’s no need for anyone to invade anyone else’s land.”
Brazilians
The president also said there are Brazilians in the Gaza Strip, including women and children, awaiting repatriation in a region close to the border with Egypt. “I’ve spoken to the president of Egypt, my minister has spoken to the foreign minister, the smaller presidential plane is already in Cairo waiting for these people. As soon as the border opens, we’ll pick up the Brazilians and bring them over here. Because that’s where they belong: a safe country with no war. And we want to give them the citizen’s life they couldn’t get living in the Gaza Strip, with the truculence and bombings.”
Criticizing the UN
“Every day we see Israel invading Palestinian land and the UN does nothing, because it’s weakened. That’s my role, to try to create the conditions so we can get back to the negotiating table. Just yesterday I spoke to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin about the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East. People need to stop,” the president declared.
In his view, if the UN “had the strength,” it could exercise what he termed greater interference in the conflict.
