Brazil’s President Lula sparks controversy with his comments on Israel's creation

Just months after sitting on the chair of the most powerful person in Latin America’s biggest country, Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva [Lula] chose to stir a controversy no one saw coming. The president was on the second leg of his Europe tour in Spain when he made a speech and turned all eyes and ears toward him in the global arena. During the speech, Lula stated that the UN created the State of Israel in 1948, but did not say the same in relation to the Palestinians, as per the Cradle.

The Brazilian president said, "The UN was so strong that, in 1948, it managed to create the State of Israel. In 2023, it fails to create a Palestinian state." This statement of his drew criticism from the Jewish community in Brazil. 

Jewish Community in Brazil

The first Jews came to Brazil around the middle of the 15th century; currently, there are about 91,000 Jews living there, making it the tenth-largest Jewish community in the world. Despite making up only about 0.5 percent of the Brazilian population, the Jewish community is very involved in many different facets of Brazilian society, as per the Jewish virtual library.
 

[Image Credi: AP]

'UN created the State of Israel in 1948': Brazil President Lula

StandWithUs Brasil reacted to Lula’s words with a statement, as reported by an Israeli local media outlet. It reads, "Contrary to what the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said, Israel was not created by the United Nations." Further, it said, "In 1947, what the UN Partition advocated was the creation of two countries, one for Jews and the other for Arabs. The Jews accepted; the Arabs did not. The State of Israel was founded after a war waged by the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq against the Jews”. 

Past tussles with Jews

The statement Lula made is not the first time he has disagreed with the Jewish state. Brazil's decision to permit two Iranian warships to dock at its port in Rio de Janeiro drew criticism from Israel in March. In December 2010, just before the end of his last term, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva formally recognised the State of Palestine.

Controversies during Europe Tour

This is not the only squabble Lula has caused during his Europe visit that was intended to encourage new investments between the EU and Brazil, as per  Before Madrid, when the Brazilian president was in Lisbon where he met with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, his remarks on the Russia-Ukraine war drew huge controversy.

[Image Credi: AP]

After Lula reiterated his desire to put an end to the conflict and promote communication between Russia and Ukraine during his visit to Portugal this week, the war in Ukraine dominated the conversation. Lula caused a stir when he said that both Russia and Ukraine made the decision to go to war and claimed that the US and Europe were arming the conflict.

The US and other Western nations, including  Spain, who think that any peace negotiations with Russia must be preceded by the complete withdrawal of all of its soldiers from Ukrainian land, criticised his stance. Washington said that Lula was "parroting" Chinese and Russian propaganda. Later, in Portugal, the Brazilian president clarified his position and said: "This war shouldn't have started, Russia shouldn't have invaded but it did. The fact is that it happened. So instead of choosing sides I want to choose a third way, the construction of peace", as reported by Euronews.