Brazilian President condemns Gaza onslaught as GENOCIDE

United Nations

Sphinx News: Ahmed Ali

Addressing the United Nations Press, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued some of the sharpest words yet against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling it “not a war, but a genocide.”

“I believe that the world has already perceived that there is not a war going on in Gaza,” Lula said, his tone cutting through the press room. “It’s a genocide going on by an oppressive military regime against a defenseless group of people, including of course women and babies.”

The Brazilian President called on the UN to exercise the same authority it used in creating the State of Israel to establish a Palestinian state. “The same UN that has the power to build an Israeli state must have the same power to create a Palestinian state,” he declared. “The only solution is the two-state solution.”

In his remarks, Lula did not shy away from acknowledging Hamas’s actions, but he insisted that Israel’s ongoing operations far exceed any legitimate security justification. “We cannot just watch this genocide and this extermination of a group of people,” he said, adding that the situation has been allowed to fester for decades. “This is not happening for two years, it has been happening for many decades.”

Lula urged the UN to take tangible steps to enforce its own resolutions: “The demand of Brazil is to execute the decision made yesterday.”

The Brazilian President also drew parallels between what he described as a broader “multilateral crisis” and the global decline of democracy. He criticized the structure of the UN Security Council, particularly its veto power, as an impediment to justice. “It’s not normal what is going on in Gaza,” he warned, calling it “the largest amount of conflict since the Second World War.”

In an impassioned critique of global priorities, Lula contrasted military spending with the struggles of the world’s poor. “You see people spending trillions for war, but there is such a large amount of people in the world that do not have simple access to food,” he said. “If all rulers all over the world included the poor in their policy, it would be possible to supply.” He further urged nations to redirect resources toward the benefit of humanity rather than destruction: “We should use the resources that we managed to produce in each economy as benefits for the entirety of the population.”

Beyond Gaza, Lula emphasized Brazil’s commitment to multilateralism, highlighting the importance of the UN meeting. “The meeting at the UN has a very gratifying importance for Brazil,” he noted, “reinforcing the idea of multilateralism.”

On foreign relations, Lula revealed he met with former U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines, describing their discussion as pragmatic. “Brazil and the United States are the biggest countries in the Americas, therefore they have many business interests in mind,” Lula said. “There is no reason that the U.S. and Brazil could face conflict. My relationship with Trump is important for Brazil.”

Still, the central theme of his address returned to Gaza and the urgency of UN action. “Lula would like to see the UN take a deeper role in negotiations with the Gaza situation,” Brazilian officials later added, underscoring his call for international mediation.