Holocaust denier, HP. Probably still better for Brazil and the environment than his fascist alternative, and the best way of dealing with someone like him is reminding them how thoroughly irrelevant they are on the global stage.
One can criticize holocaust inversion, but that's still a different thing than deniying it.
Lula's specific comments go much further than routine Holocaust inversion, drawing a direct comparison between the facts of the two and stating that there has been nothing as bad in human history besides those two. Ergo, he's either claiming that Israel has killed 13 million people (deranged blood libel) or that only five figures of Jews died in the Holocaust.
Let's not forget that it denigrates or downplays every other genocide too. It's like Lula took conventional Holocaust exceptionalism and went "this is great, but how can I make it as offensive to Jews as it already is to groups targeted in historical genocides besides Jews?" It's astonishing how well-formulated what he said was to insult almost every single currently or formerly oppressed people group on the planet except Palestinians, including many that are present in Brazil and turned out in droves to vote for him.
Didn't vote. I like him a lot in most ways, but this series of remarks really was far beyond the pale.
To quote a Brazilian Atlas poster (not RedVelvet, to be clear):
Comparisons to Holocaust have many problems, but Lula didn't invent them. The Israeli government compares its enemies to nazis. Israeli authorities had already used at UN the star used by the jews during the Holocaust. Many anti-west dictators are usually compared to Hitler by western media and politicians and nobody complains.
I don't think we should carve an exception out for Israel. Them thinking themselves to be the exception not limited by any rules is what helped make the current mess and they need to be taught that they are bound by normal rules.
I don't like the speech too much but it's hardly scandalous to me.
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