Considered a terrorist organization, Hamas congratulated Lula for his election in 2022

Hamas, a group considered terrorist by the European Union, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States and which bombed Israel this Saturday morning (7), congratulated the elected president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), on the occasion of his victory in the 2022 elections.

At the time, Hamas Political Bureau member Basim Naim called Lula a “freedom fighter” and considered his election “a victory for all oppressed peoples around the world, particularly the Palestinian people, as he is known for his strong and continued support for the Palestinians in all international forums.”

President Lula’s well-known position in support of the Palestinian State was reiterated last month, when, as usual, Brazil opened the annual ordinary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. In his 8th speech to the General Assembly plenary, Lula stated. “It is disturbing to see that old unresolved disputes persist and new threats emerge or gain force. The difficulty of guaranteeing the creation of a State for the Palestinian people clearly demonstrates this”, said Lula.

During Lula’s previous mandates (from 2003 to 2010), the country reiterated, at the opening of the UN Assemblies, its position of support for the 2-State solution as a means of achieving peace in the region, defending the end of the occupation of territories Palestinians.

Statements are viewed with caution by Israeli diplomats

The Brazilian president’s statements have always been viewed with caution by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2003, Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Gazit, and local political analysts criticized the Brazilian leader’s words during a visit to Middle Eastern countries.

Lula had criticized the occupation of Palestinian territories, saying that “the maintenance and expansion of settlements is unacceptable.” He also defended the resolution demanding the return of the Golan Heights to Syria.

David Saranga, spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who called for the creation of the Palestinian State, however, questioned the peaceful intentions of this future country. “Our concern is only about the character of this State, whether it will support terrorism or not,” Saranga said at the time.

He also showed irritation with Lula’s approach to the issue of returning the Golan Heights to Syria. “Israel is only in the Golan because of the daily Syrian attacks that came from the region before 1967 (when, after the victory in the Six-Day War over Syria, Israel conquered the group of mountains on the border between the two countries),” he said Gazit. “We will seriously think about returning the Golan if Syria really wants to sign a peace agreement with us. The problem is that we are not sure of the Syrians’ intentions,” he concluded. Gazit stated that Israel has proven more than once that it wants peace with its neighbors, by signing agreements with both Egypt (1978) and Jordan (1994).

In 2009, already in his 2nd term, the president returned to the topic, in the UN speech, asking for “political and moral authority to resolve conflicts in the Middle East, guaranteeing the coexistence of a Palestinian State with the State of Israel.”

Inaccurate statement was criticized for damaging Brazil’s credibility

More recently, in an official Mercosur meeting with the Spanish government, Lula was criticized for an imprecise phrase: “The UN was so strong that, in 1948, it managed to create the State of Israel. In 2023, it will not be possible to create the Palestinian State.”

Analysts saw damage to diplomatic relations and Brazil’s credibility as a mediator, since the UN, as an international organization, does not have the prerogative to create countries. In 1947, a meeting approved, by the majority of member countries at the time, Resolution 181, which suggested the creation of 2 nation-states, one Arab and the other Jewish, in the territory known as the British Mandate of Palestine. Israel’s sovereignty in the area was subsequently due to numerous factors, not the will of the UN.

Lula’s position contrasts with that of the government of Jair Bolsonaro, his predecessor, which was closer to Israel. In line with the policy of Donald Trump, then president of the United States, Brazil supported, in 2019, the move of the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which did not materialize.