Palestine asks for help and Lula supports South Africa’s complaint against Israel

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, this Wednesday (10), that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will support South Africa’s decision to denounce Israel for the alleged crime of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) . The complaint arises from the Israeli government’s reaction after the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7th. Since then, a war has broken out in the Gaza Strip and more than 20,000 people have died.

Lula’s decision was announced just hours after a meeting with the Palestinian ambassador, Ibrahim Alzeben. The two met this Wednesday afternoon at Palácio do Planalto. At the meeting, Alzeben asked Brazil to support Palestine in relation to South Africa’s complaint against Israel. Shortly after the meeting, the ambassador told the press that he “didn’t know” whether the Brazilian would support the complaint or not.

A few hours after the meeting, however, the PT member decided that he would respond to the request made by Palestine. “In light of the flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, the President [Lula] expressed its support for South Africa’s initiative to call on the International Court of Justice to order Israel to immediately cease all acts and measures that may constitute genocide or related crimes under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”, informs the note released by Itamaraty.

According to the African country, the Israeli government has committed genocidal attitudes and been silent on several issues with the intention of destroying part of the Palestinians as a national, racial and ethnic group.

For experts, the decision to support Palestine against Israel was seen as a surprise, as Brazil tends to remain neutral in situations like this. Lula, however, has made several criticisms against Israel in recent months.

In one of his statements, in October last year, he called Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks “genocide”. “What is happening right now in the Middle East is very serious, in other words, it is not about discussing who is right, who is wrong, who fired the first shot, who fired the second. The problem is this: it is not a war, it is a genocide that has already killed almost 2 thousand children who have nothing to do with this war, who are victims of this war”, said Lula.

South Africa’s catalyzed denunciation of Israel is considered “political”

For the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) StandWithUs Brazil, an entity linked to the Israeli government, the complaint made by South Africa is political in nature and should not have international support. “South Africa does not have a real commitment to the issue of genocide. The country, for example, took a long time to condemn the terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel on October 7th. On the eighth, inclusive, the South African president made a call to Hamas leaders. It has been adopting a stance against Israel for some time now”, analyzes the NGO’s spokesperson in Brazil Igor Sabino, who also has a doctorate in Political Science and professor on the International Relations course at Ibmec de Belo Horizonte.

Sabino highlighted that the country has taken contradictory positions with countries and leaders convicted of genocide by various international bodies. “In 2017, the country failed to comply with a sentence that ordered the imprisonment of Omar al-Bashir, former president of Sudan who was convicted of the crime of genocide. And, more recently, South Africa said that if Vladimir Putin went to the BRICS Summit — which the country hosted in August — he would not be arrested”, he points out. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian for the attacks on Ukraine.

“It is absurd that the actions of the State of Israel itself to defend itself against Hamas attacks are considered genocide. The person who should be condemned and tried for genocide is Hamas. Hamas makes clear its intention to destroy the Jewish State and has given concrete evidence that he is willing to do so with the crimes that were perpetuated on October 7. But there has not been a commotion on the part of the international community to judge Hamas and hold it responsible for its actions”, points out Sabino.

He also assesses “it is regrettable that Brazil supports this resolution which, in concrete terms, would not help with the conflict and would not improve the situation in the Gaza Strip, on the contrary, it tends to make it even worse”, assesses Sabino.

In addition to South Africa, Palestine, and now Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Malaysia have also supported the complaint made by the South African country. “For Brazil to adopt this stance violates our own foreign policy tradition, including in relation to these Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. Brazil has always had a stance of equidistance, of defending the two-state solution and excluding itself from these internal issues”, he points out. the spokesperson for StandWithUs Brazil.

Israel’s position

Following South Africa’s complaint to the International Court of Justice, Israel responded to the accusations by blaming Hamas. According to the Israeli government, it is the terrorist group that seeks to exterminate the Jewish people.

Before Lula’s decision, the Israeli Embassy in Brazil classified South Africa’s complaint as “defamation”. In a note sent to People’s Gazettethe body stated that Israel carries out “military operations in Gaza exclusively against Hamas and other terrorist organizations.”

“Israel categorically rejects the defamation of South Africa, which accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza in its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Israel is committed to and operates in accordance with international law and directs its military operations in Gaza exclusively against Hamas and other terrorist organizations. In both word and deed, Israel has made clear that the civilians of Gaza are not its enemies. Hamas, however, has openly declared its genocidal intentions.”

A new position should be released by the Israeli Embassy in Brazil soon.