Bolivia backs Brazil’s president over his Holocaust analogy for Israel's Gaza attack

By Esra Tekin and Ayse Dogru

ISTANBUL (AA) - Bolivia's President Luis Arce on Wednesday announced his support for Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who compared Israel's intense attacks on civilians in Gaza to Adolf Hitler's Holocaust.

"From the Plurinational State of Bolivia, we express our solidarity and support for the brother president of #Brazil, @LulaOficial, declared "persona non grata" in Israel for speaking the truth about the genocide committed against the brave Palestinian people," Arce said on X.

He also added that those who show indifference to this "barbarity" will not be forgiven by history.

On Feb. 18, Lula described the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza as "genocide," comparing it to the acts of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, according to local media.

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn't happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews," Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Brazilian president "crossed a red line."

"The words of the president of Brazil are shameful and alarming," he said in a statement. "This is about trivializing the Holocaust and trying to harm the Jewish people and Israel's right to defend itself."