Israel’s Netanyahu slams Brazilian president’s comparison of Gaza war to the Holocaust

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (AP) — Israel has condemned Brazil’s president for comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of being antisemitic and trivializing the Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II. The outcry further strained relations between the countries, which have deteriorated since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to office last year. Speaking to reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia, Lula said: “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula’s comments “trivialized the Holocaust” and “crossed a red line.”