Brazilian president harshly criticized Trump over Gaza peace council
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday accused the US president Donald Trump of seeking to become the master of a new United Nations by creating a peace council, saying he had reached out to a number of world leaders to defend the UN body.
“Instead of reforming the United Nations, what is happening? President Trump is proposing the creation of a new United Nations of which he will be the sole master”.
On Thursday, Trump called the “Peace Council” on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to work to resolve conflicts in the world in a way that could lead to the formation of a rival body to the United Nations.
Trump has invited a number of world leaders to join his new body, including the Brazilian president, who did not respond to the invitation.
In his speech on Friday, Lula defended pluralism in the face of what he called the rise of “unilateralism” and the “law of the strongest”.
Earlier, the Brazilian president held a phone call on Friday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who reiterated his commitment to defending the pivotal role of the United Nations, without mentioning the new council launched by Trump.
Lula lamented that the UN Charter is being torn apart, declaring that he had spent a week that connects all the countries of the world trying to find a way to come together and defend the multilateral system.
He said he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian President Narendra Modi, and his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum.
Lula also criticized the Trump administration’s Gaza reconstruction project launched after the Israeli attack, saying, “They destroyed, they killed more than 70,000 people, to say that now we are going to rebuild Gaza and build luxury hotels there”.
The White House announced the “Peace Council” headed by Donald Trump as part of the plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip, but Trump’s draft charter gives it broad powers aimed at contributing to resolving conflicts around the world, which could lead to the formation of a competing body for the United Nations.
