Colombia, Bolivia back Brazil’s Lula in Israel row over Gaza war comments

South American allies voice ‘solidarity’ with Brazil after Israel lambasts Lula for comparing war on Gaza with Holocaust.

Colombia and Bolivia are backing Brazil as its diplomatic row with Israel escalated after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, comparing its actions with the Holocaust.

Gustavo Petro and Luis Arce, the presidents of Colombia and Bolivia respectively, both expressed “solidarity” with Lula on Tuesday, after he was slammed by Israel for calling its war on Gaza a “genocide” against Palestinians and compared it with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

“In Gaza there is a genocide and thousands of children, women and elderly civilians are cowardly murdered,” Petro said on X. “Lula has only spoken the truth and the truth is defended or barbarism will annihilate us. The entire region must unite to immediately end the violence in Palestine.”

Arce also took to social media to link arms with Lula. “History will not forgive those who are indifferent to this barbarity,” he wrote. The Brazilian president, he said, had told the truth about the genocide being committed against the “brave Palestinian people”.