text: Israel–Hamas war Lula condemned the Hamas attack on Israel carried out on 7 October 2023. On 11 October 2023, he called for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war, stating, it was "urgently needed in defense of Israeli and Palestinian children". Lula urged Hamas to release kidnapped Israeli children and Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip and allow Palestinian children and their mothers to leave the war zone. On 25 October 2023, Lula stated, "It's not a war, it's a genocide". On 18 February 2024, he drew comparisons to the Nazi Holocaust. That same day, he was accused of "blatant antisemitism" by Dani Dayan, the Chairman of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, for comparing Israel’s actions to Adolf Hitler. Brazil's ambassador to Israel Frederico Meyer was recalled after these comments, and President Lula was designated a persona non grata in the State of Israel. Lula subsequently declined to apologise and despite having invoked a comparison with Adolf Hitler, he stated "I did not say the word Holocaust, that was the interpretation of the prime minister of Israel, it was not mine.”
  United States
  In April 2023, alluding to the support of the United States for Ukraine in the wake of the  Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lula said that the US needs to “stop encouraging war.” In May 2023, he said that US economic sanctions on Venezuela were  “worse than a war” and “kill” women and children. In February 2024, University of São Paulo foreign policy expert Feliciano de Sa Guimaraes said Lula only listens to one side in his government, "the left-wing, anti-American voices who very aggressively speak of a radical change in the global order."
  Venezuela
  Lula restored diplomatic ties that Brazil had cut off with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro government after 2018 elections that had been condemned by critics as a sham. In March 2023, Lula refused to join 54 other nations and sign a United Nations declaration criticizing Venezuala’s human rights abuses. In May 2023 Lula met with Maduro in Brazil.