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Brazil Senate Establishes Official Israel Friendship Day Amid Growing Opposition to Lula’s Hostile Stance
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
Brazil’s Federal Senate has passed a law establishing an official Day of Friendship with Israel, signaling growing pushback against President Lula da Silva’s increasingly hostile stance toward Jerusalem.
In a move led by opposition lawmakers, the Brazilian Senate voted last week to establish April 12 as “Brazil–Israel Friendship Day.”
The measure passed with support from right-leaning and centrist parties, which currently have a majority over Lula’s socialist Workers’ Party in the chamber.
After the veto window closed without intervention from Lula — who has been an outspoken critic of Israel since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — the law officially took effect on June 25.
This legislation marks a renewed attempt by opposition parties to push back against the government’s hostility toward Israel, following a similar proposal vetoed by former president Dilma Rousseff — also from Lula’s party — in 2013.
The new observance will take place on April 12, marking the anniversary of Brazil’s opening of its embassy in Israel in 1951.
“The new law goes beyond diplomacy, it recognizes and values the historical, cultural and social contribution of the Jewish community in Brazil, a vibrant, plural community deeply rooted in our national fabric,” Davi Alcolumbre, president of the Brazilian Senate and author of the legislation, said in a statement.
This latest move by opposition parties reflects increasing resistance to the government’s official stance and inflammatory rhetoric toward Israel.
In May, Lula accused Israel of “attacking women and children under the pretext of killing terrorists,” described its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas as “a genocide,” and claimed the Jewish state struck hospitals which did not contain Hamas members.
In February, Lula also received pushback for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and the war in Gaza to the Holocaust — a comparison described as an example of anti-Jewish hate under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
The Brazilian Israelite Confederation (CONIB), the country’s leading Jewish organization, praised the latest legislation for recognizing the strong ties between Brazil and the Jewish community.
“The president of the Senate reaffirms the feelings of the Brazilian people, who have love, respect and gratitude for Israel,” the statement reads.
“The technology of the Jewish state has greatly benefited the Brazilian state, and Israel is also grateful to Brazil, because, in the figure of Oswaldo Aranha, it recognizes the importance of our country in the creation of the Jewish state,” it continued.
Aranha, a Brazilian diplomat, led the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 during the historic vote on the partition plan for British Mandatory Palestine, a key moment that contributed to the international recognition of the State of Israel.
Brazil is home to approximately 92,000 Jews, making it the 10th largest Jewish community in the world and the second largest in Latin America after Argentina.
According to a survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Brazil ranks as the 21st least antisemitic country out of 103, with a quarter of the population expressing “elevated levels of antisemitic attitudes,” making it the third lowest in the region.
However, since the Hamas-led atrocities on Oct. 7, Brazil has experienced a 961 percent spike in antisemitic incidents compared to the same period in 2022.
The post Brazil Senate Establishes Official Israel Friendship Day Amid Growing Opposition to Lula’s Hostile Stance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.