Israel-Hamas War: Missteps wear down Lula government – 10/19/2023 – Power

The Lula government and its allies have been slipping in the political dispute when it comes to the Israel-Hamas war, thus causing strain on the government.

Oscillations in the discourse on Hamas and Palestine, the PT’s clash with the Israeli embassy and the dismissal of the president of the EBC for posting criticism of Israel’s supporters on the networks are some of the episodes since the war broke out on October 7.

Remember episodes:

Oscillation in speech

In President Lula’s first demonstration about the war, he condemned the attacks against Israel. The president said he was shocked by the attacks against civilians in Israel, which he described as “terrorism”.

Without mentioning the extremist Islamic group Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the attacks, the president stated that Brazil would spare no effort to avoid an escalation in the conflict.

The president, on the other hand, also defended actions that would guarantee the existence of a Palestinian State.

Deputies and senators explored, in particular, the ideological proximity of some PT parliamentarians to the Palestinian cause. Some of Lula’s allies even defended Hamas in the past, which increased the potential for wear and tear on the government.

They also sought to explore what they consider to be the current government’s complacency in not considering Hamas a terrorist group. Brazil adopts the historic position of following the classification dictated by the UN (United Nations), which did not include the group in this category.

PT parliamentarians, including current ministers Alexandre Padilha (Secretariat of Institutional Relations) and Paulo Pimenta (Secretariat of Social Communication), even signed a note in 2021 in support of Hamas, when the United Kingdom decided to classify it as a terrorist organization .

PT clash and Israeli embassy

The PT raised its tone against Israel this Tuesday (17) in an exchange of public criticism with the country’s embassy in Brasília. This increased pressure on the government in the political conflict over the war against the terrorist group Hamas.

The party’s statements — which said that Israel’s representative in the country “does not have the moral authority to talk about human rights” — led Lula’s allies to try behind the scenes to separate the government from the exchange of accusations.

On Monday (16), the PT released a resolution on the conflict in which it said it rejected “any and all acts of violence against civilians, wherever they come from.” “Therefore, we condemn the unacceptable attacks, murders and kidnapping of civilians, committed by both Hamas and the State of Israel, which is carrying out, at this very moment, a genocide against the population of Gaza, through a series of war crimes” .

The accusation that Israel commits war crimes and genocide provoked a response from the diplomatic mission. On a social network, the embassy spoke of “an extreme lack of understanding of the current situation”.

EBC case

The president of EBC (Empresa Brasil de Comunicação), Hélio Doyle, was fired this Wednesday (18) after sharing publications critical of Israel supporters on social media.

The dismissal was confirmed behind the scenes by palace advisors. However, the federal government articulated a way out so that Doyle himself announced that he had asked to step down.

The dismissal comes hours after Doyle used his social network to repost a post in which he called Israel supporters “idiots”. “You don’t have to be a Zionist to support Israel. Being an idiot is enough,” the post reads.

But that wasn’t the only one. The former president of the EBC published a series of criticisms of Israel on the networks over the last few days. In one he authored, he criticizes media outlets for their coverage of the conflict.

Celso Amorim

In the Brazilian Congress, summonses were prepared for the special advisor to the Presidency for international affairs, Celso Amorim, and for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira.

The justification for the request to summon Amorim to the Chamber of Deputies is to ask him to explain what he said in an interview with the Panel, from Sheetin which he stated that the Hamas attack had its origins in “years of discriminatory treatment” by Israel against Palestinians.

Three PL deputies also requested approval of a motion to repudiate Amorim for the statement.

Padilha and meeting with Palestinians

The Minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Alexandre Padilha (PT), stated that he will meet with the president of Conib (Israeli Confederation of Brazil), Claudio Lottenberg, in November.

The announcement was made after negative repercussions from Padilha’s meeting, before the outbreak of the conflict, with members of the Brazil Palestine Institute and the head of Brazil’s representation in the West Bank, Alessandro Candeas.

Padilha was also criticized for receiving, on the occasion, a parliamentary advisor who, on the day of the attacks, mocked one of the Israeli victims on social media. Sayid Tenório ended up being dismissed from the position he held in the office of deputy Márcio Jerry (PC of B-MA).