Celso Amorim collaborated on a book about the “diplomatic” side of Hamas

For Celso Amorim, former foreign minister and current special advisor for international affairs to the Presidency of the Republic, Hamas’s effort to maintain relations with governments and international leaders can give the extremist group “a central role in the restoration of Palestinian rights”. This is what he states in the presentation of the book ‘Engajando o Mundo: a Construção da Politics Externa do Hamas’ (Editora Memo), released in Brazil in May.

Written by Daud Abdulah, a Middle East researcher and former member of the Muslim Council of England (a body that brings together more than 500 mosques and other religious associations in that country), the work seeks to show the “diplomatic” side of Hamas and its efforts to publicize your cause around the world. It also contests the alleged “misrepresentation”, by the West, of the activities of the Palestinian militia, responsible for the unprecedented attack against Israel recorded on Saturday (7).

In his text included in Abdulah’s book, Amorim rescues Brazil’s position during the first two governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a period in which the country recognized Palestine as an independent state. The Brazilian decision was harshly condemned by Israel and the local Jewish community.

“President Lula and I defend a broad and non-discriminatory dialogue between Palestinians”, says Amorim, remembering that Brazil sent a representative to Gaza to discuss with Hamas authorities. Chancellor of Lula between 2003 and 2011, Amorim was also Minister of Foreign Affairs under Itamar Franco and Minister of Defense under Dilma Roussef.