PT deputy poses next to Hamas’ head of political relations

Deputy João Daniel (PT-SE) met on Friday (May 10, 2024) with Hamas’ head of political and international relations, Basem Naim. To the Poder360he said he had no way of knowing who everyone at the event was.

The congressman shared a photo alongside the member of the extremist group during the 1st Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

On October 7, Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israel and has held hostages ever since. As of Monday (May 13), the conflict had already left 36,728 people dead. Of this number, 35,589 are Palestinians and 1,139 Israelis, according to the Al Jazeera (state broadcaster of the Qatari monarchy). Information about Gaza is from Hamas and there is no way to independently verify this data.

“Brazil plays an important role in this fight against the atrocities that the State of Israel has committed against Palestine with this unjust war that the whole world is watching”, said the PT deputy in a post shared on his Instagram profile. João Daniel said that he continues to defend the freedom of the Palestinian people.

This was not the first time that Basem Naim demonstrated closeness to the Brazilian government. On March 4, he recorded a video thanking President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for his demonstrations of support for the Palestinian cause. The speech was broadcast during the national conference of the PCO (Party of the Workers’ Cause).

To the Poder360João Daniel said he saw no news about the content of the conference, just a photo with “distorted and out of context information”. He also stated that there is “There is much more of an intention to criminalize those who show solidarity with the victims and condemn the massacre than to talk about what the Conference was about.”