Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s approval ratings dipped following his outrageous remarks last month equating Israel’s military operation in Gaza to the Nazis’ extermination of the Jews, Reuters reported on Thursday.

According to a new Genial/Quaest poll published on Wednesday, Lula’s approval rates dropped to 51% in February from 54% in December – his lowest level since April 2023. Forty-six percent of those polled said he was doing a bad job.

Not surprisingly, his approval ratings especially dipped among evangelical Christian voters, dropping to 35% from 41%.

“The reaction to Lula’s remarks about Gaza seems to give a good clue to explain it,” Quaest pollster Felipe Nunes said. “About 60% of Brazilians believe he exaggerated in his comparison, but among evangelicals that number is even bigger: 69%.”

“The remarks were so poorly received that the president did not obtain majority support even within his own political base,” Nunes noted.

Following Lula’s remarks, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz summoned Brazilian Ambassador to Israel Federico Mayer to Yad Vashem for a reprimand and declared Lula to be ” a persona non grata in Israel as long as he does not retract his words and apologize.”

An apology never came.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)