During his two-day visit to Egypt over Feb. 14-15, which ended this evening local time, Brazilian President Lula da Silva minced no words in discussing the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and laying the blame squarely on Israel. “Any way you look at it, the scale of violence committed against the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza has no justification. A definite ceasefire is urgently needed to allow for delivery of sustainable and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance, as well as the immediate and unconditional freedom of hostages,” he said.
He added that Brazil opposes any attempt at forced displacement of the Palestinian people. That is why, he said, it supported the process begun by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice. “There will be no peace without a Palestinian state. There is no explanation for Israel’s behavior, using the defeat of Hamas as a pretext, killing women and children,” he told reporters following his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. In this context, he charged that multilateral organizations created to resolve these kinds of problems “don’t work,” and that now is the time to start making the necessary changes in global governance. Israel has earned the top spot when it comes to non-compliance with any resolution coming from the UN.
