Bolsonaro’s Allies Use the Israel Crisis To Garner Support While Legislators Issue Another Call To Impeach Lula da Silva

Supporters of a former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, will demonstrate on the streets of Sao Paulo on Sunday, looking to capitalize on the diplomatic crisis between Israel and President da Silva, after Mr. da Silva compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust.Mr. Bolsonaro has called for his supporters to join the demonstration amid allegations of an attempted coup d’etat. On January 8, 2023, a mob of his partisans stormed government buildings to restore his authority despite losing at the ballot box to President da Silva. A risk management firm, Crisis24, says the Sunday protest will cause disruptions, but “will likely pass peacefully.”In the chambers of Brazil’s Congress, more than 100 of the 513 deputies requested the impeachment of Mr. da Silva, the latest in a string of 18 impeachment requests against the current president. The number, though, sits well below the two-thirds threshold required for the Senate to open the impeachment process.Following Mr. da Silva’s comparison of Israel and the Nazis, Israel deemed him a persona non grata, and Brazil recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv. Mr. da Silva, though, is not the only Brazilian leader demonizing Israel through Holocaust inversion. First lady Rosangela da Silva, known as Janja, defended her husband on X, saying, “if President Lula had lived through World War II, he would have defended the Jews’ right to life in the same way.” She claims the press is hiding Israel’s actions — “if that isn’t hiding genocide, I don’t know what is” — and says, “the world must be outraged by the murder of each of these children.” Brazil’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, says Israel’s reaction to Mr. da Silva’s Holocaust comparison is a “smokescreen” for the “ongoing massacre in Gaza,” and a “shameful page in the history of Israeli diplomacy.” The chief advisor to Mr. da Silva, Celso Amorim, tells Folha De S. Paulo, Brazil’s largest newspaper, “In my opinion, there is no need to apologize,” given the “barbarity” of actions in Gaza. While Israel does not appreciate the commentary from Mr. da Silva and his partners, domestic opponents of the president welcome the messages as fuel for driving a conservative revival — or a reversal of the pink tide.The diplomatic fiasco will likely affect support for Mr. da Silva among the evangelical segment of the Brazilian population, which already tends to favor Mr. Bolsonaro. A federal deputy and evangelical leader, Cezinha de Madureira, says Mr. da Silva “made a big mistake.”Mr. Bolsonaro’s allies are working to take advantage of the misstep, the CEO of Pan American Freedom Forum in Brazil, Bruno Goés, tells the Sun. “It’s the democratic game,” he says.The “left” did the same when Jair Bolsonaro’s son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, compared “the January 8th arrests in Brazil with the Holocaust,” Mr. Goés says. “Lula’s speech has more weight and should be used to garner even more support for Brazil’s conservatives.”Confidants of Jair Bolsonaro, though, are divided over best practices for promoting his standing. His right-hand man, Fabio Wajngarten, invited Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, to the upcoming protest.Mr. Goés tells the Sun that the invitation to Mr. Zonshine “was not a very good idea.” The demonstration’s main organizer and leader of the Assembly of God Victory in Christ evangelical church, Pastor Silas Malafaia, says Mr. Zonshine’s presence could detract from the primary focus — in the pastor’s view, defending the democratic rule of law and Mr. Bolsonaro — according to Folha. When asked about expectations for the protest on Sunday, Mr. Goés responds, “It will be a big event, Bolsonaro has great mobilization power.” Although he will not be an eligible “candidate in 2026 due to convictions,” Mr. Goés says he will do “everything to remain politically relevant and migrate his votes to candidates of his choice.”

Bolsonaro’s Allies Use the Israel Crisis To Garner Support While Legislators Issue Another Call To Impeach Lula da Silva

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