Statements by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, leaving a meeting linked to the G20 in Rio de Janeiro, on the actions of the Israeli government

"The statements made by the head of the Netanyahu government’s foreign ministry yesterday and today are unacceptable in form and dishonest in content.

For a foreign ministry to address a head of State of a friendly country, President Lula, in this way is something unusual and outrageous. For a foreign ministry to systematically distort statements and lie is offensive and serious. It is a shameful page in the history of Israeli diplomacy, using vulgar and irresponsible language.

I am sure that the attitude of the Netanyahu government and its anti-diplomacy do not reflect the feelings of its population.The Israeli people do not deserve this dishonesty, which is not worthy of the history of struggle and courage of the Jewish people. In more than 50 years of my career, I have never seen anything like this.

Ourfriendship with the Israeli people dates back to the formation of that state, and it will survive the attacks of the head of the Netanyahu foreign ministry.

Minister Israel Katz distorts Brazil’s positions in order to try to take advantage in domestic politics. While he attacked our country in public, on the same day, in a private conversation with our ambassador in Tel Aviv, he stated that he had great respect for Brazilians and for Brazil, which he defined as the most important nation in South America. This respect was not demonstrated in his public statements, on the contrary.

It is unacceptable for a government authority to act in this way.

In addition to trying to sow division, he seeks to increase his visibility in Brazil in order to create a smokescreen that will cover up the real problem of the massacre that is taking place in Gaza, where 30,000 Palestinian civilians have already died, most of them women and children, and the population has been subjected to forced displacement and collective punishment. This has led to the growing international isolation of the Netanyahu government, a fact reflected in the deliberations currently underway at the International Court of Justice. It is this isolation that the head of the Israeli foreign ministry is trying to hide. We will not play this game. And we will not stop fighting for the protection of innocent lives at risk. That is what this is about.

The Israeli ambassador in Brasilia and the Netanyahu government were informed that Brazil will react with diplomacy, but with all firmness, to any attack it receives, now and always.”