As the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East work to diffuse tensions in the region after the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Brazilian President Lula da Silva has issued solidarity with Iran and sided with the Hamas government, derailing valuable security and diplomatic efforts in America’s backyard.

Brazil is the most significant geopolitical power in Latin America and has the influence and leverage to help quell the crisis of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the region. Latin America is home to about 500,000 Jews and has long been home to a vibrant Jewish community. Instead, Lula’s misguided pacifism, foolishness, and contempt for the Jewish state are fueling the fire. Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, antisemitic attacks in Brazil have been up over 1,000%. Lula’s rhetoric and actions are partly responsible for the rise in anti-Jewish hate in the region.

Iran, Hamas, and their proxies have violated sovereignty, integrity, stability, and peace in the Middle East for more than four decades, funding and supporting hundreds of terrorist attacks against civilians. The U.S. must ensure that states south of its border, especially an ally like Brazil, understand this basic geopolitical reality and help Israel and other U.S. partners target the planners, financiers, and operators of these terrorist attacks.

Lula’s response to Haniyeh’s death, though deeply concerning, should not come as a surprise. Lula was one of the only world leaders to send a representative — his vice president, no less — to the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian. During the ceremony, he was seated next to Haniyeh. This helped rehabilitate the diplomatic standing of Iran, a brutal theocracy and the world’s largest state sponsor of global Islamist terrorism, including attacks on Israel.

His connection to the Palestinian Authority (PA), an organization wrought with corruption and dominated by Fatah, also cannot be discounted. Haniyeh was prime minister of the PA from 2006 to 2014, before taking on his role as political leader of Hamas. During this time, Lula signed deals with the PA, including placing the Palestinian Authority’s embassy in Brasilia. Most recently, on July 8th, Brazil signed into law a Mercosur trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority, attempting to contribute “to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbors.”

The U.S. cannot safely ally itself with any nation devoted to promoting the economic welfare of a terrorist nation. In response to the overwhelming loss of Palestinian life in the war that followed the October 7th attacks, the PA called for “unity with Hamas.” But there is no “unity” with Hamas. Lula is delusional to imagine that supporting the PA can increase peace and harmony in the Middle East.

Lula and other Latin American leaders on the left seem to believe that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are acting in good faith, and are willing to accept a Jewish state if given the right negotiating terms. This analysis is naïve and simplistic. Their actions over the last four decades show that they are not, and are instead, the greatest source of insecurity and terrorism in the Middle East.

Hamas is one of the most sophisticated, organized, and genocidal terrorist organizations on the planet, with an estimated annual budget of over $2 billion. Hamas is also a theocratic government, oppressing women, members of the LGBTQ+ community (it notoriously throws gays off of buildings, including gay members of Hamas), and calling for the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews and infidels.

Lula has repeatedly trivialized the Holocaust by comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to those of the Nazis during the Second World War. Israel has used proportional force to retaliate against a terrorist group, backed by Hezbollah, the theocratic regime in Iran, and others, to eradicate a threat within its borders, all while taking the utmost precaution to minimize civilian casualties, providing humanitarian aid, opening border crossings for refugees (while Egypt closes them), and even attempting to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

The Nazis, while pursuing a war of aggression to expand its territories based on theories of German racial superiority, systematically murdered over 6 million Jews in concentration camps and pogroms, as well as political enemies, dissidents, intellectuals, journalists, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. There is simply no comparison to be made.

Every Israeli attempt at peace and negotiation has been met with terror and extremism. No matter how much surrounding countries in the Middle East liberalize and develop, including Israel and now other Arab states, the theocratic terrorist contingencies at Israel’s borders embrace their death cult even further. Believing that they want peace, or worse, share the same brand of anti-colonial, progressive politics as Lula does, only legitimizes their propaganda.

The U.S. and its allies must address this growing animosity in its backyard toward its closest ally in the Middle East, and the only democracy in the region. The rise in antisemitism resulting from this kind of rhetoric should also not be tolerated.