The Lula-Israel crisis gave ammunition to the opposition, elevating a diplomatic issue to the center of domestic debates. Allies of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and other members of the opposition lined up to send a new impeachment request against the president. This document was filed on Thursday night (22/02) and its central reason was the fact that President Lula compared the deaths in the Gaza Strip to the Jewish Holocaust of the Second World War.
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Context
Lula’s speech that caused an internal crisis occurred during the president’s trip to Egypt and Ethiopia this month. It was expected that the president would speak in a tone of condemnation of Tel Aviv’s actions; first because he had already done it before, but also because Lula would speak at the headquarters of the Arab League.
On Sunday (18/02), at the press conference, Lula said: “You know, 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.”
Criticized by Allies
The PT member also faces exhaustion with statements from allies in the Legislature regarding his speech. The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD), demanded this Tuesday (20) a retraction from Lula. The government leader in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), stated that the president “has gone beyond the point”.
International Repercussion
Lula was then declared “persona non grata” by Israel — in practice, a label that creates a series of diplomatic embarrassments, although no political or legal sanctions. The Brazilian also became the target of a series of statements and publications on social media by Netanyahu and his chancellor, Israel Katz.
The Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Frederico Meyer, was called to give explanations at Yad Vashem, the most important memorial to the Holocaust, in an act seen by the Brazilian government as being designed to embarrass the diplomat.Brasília’s response was diplomatic — the government summoned the Israeli ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, to explain and then called Meyer to return to the country.
Analysis:
President Lula’s speech led to a wave of criticisms, however, with little practical impact on the government. Especially because, according to political and media sources, the impeachment request is unlikely to succeed. We believe that the speech’s most sensitive impact will be on this year’s municipal elections, among evangelical voters, an important part of the electorate in which Lula has encountered more resistance than his opposition.
