'A president must learn how to count': FM Katz fires back at Brazil's Lula
Katz’s response did not hold back from acknowledging the error, writing that “there should be a law that every person who wishes to become president must learn to count.”
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: APRIL 5, 2024 15:53 Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures as he meets with Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (not pictured) at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, March 6, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo)
Foreign Minister Israel Katz fired back at a statement made by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday in which the Brazilian president claimed that Israel is responsible for the deaths of 12.3 million children in Gaza.
“12.4 million children died in the Gaza Strip and in Israel because of the war,” Lula said at a government conference on the rights of children and adolescents that took place in Brasilia, Army Radio reported on Thursday.
The number stated by Lula is highly inaccurate. The overall population of both Gaza and Israel combined comes out to be far less – totaling approximately 11 million people altogether.
Katz’s response did not hold back from acknowledging the error, writing on X that “there should be a law that every person who wishes to become president must learn to count.”
Israel considered the comments to be a serious antisemitic attack and demanded an apology. Brazilian sources said this would not happen.
Lula's approval among evangelical Christians - who make up nearly a third of Brazil's population - dropped to 35% from 41%, while their disapproval of his government jumped to 62% from 56%.
"The reaction to Lula's remarks about Gaza seems to give a good clue to explain it," Quaest pollster Felipe Nunes said. "About 60% of Brazilians believe he exaggerated in his comparison, but among evangelicals, that number is even bigger: 69%."
