The Brazilian parliament holds a public hearing session on the situation in Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Middle East Monitor)

The Brazilian parliament has expelled a pro-Israel far-right congressman after he blatantly expressed support for the occupying regime’s genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Abilio Brunini was led by security officers out of the Brazilian legislature after an argument broke out between him and pro-Palestinian congressmen during a session on the situation in Gaza and Israel’s brutal onslaught against Palestinian people in the coastal silver.

Brunini explicitly voiced support for Israel’s genocidal bombing campaign in the besieged area and accused the Brazilian parliament of spreading anti-Semitism propaganda, and propagating anti-Israel ideas, which prompted other members in the chamber to interrupt him and ask him to leave the session.

You have to be arrested, murderer, Nazi, the parliamentarians shouted. Get out terrorist.

The Brazilian parliament had invited to the session a number of Palestinian figures to speak about the rights violations by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, their land, property and freedom, calling on Brazilian deputies to exert more pressure on the illegal entity and expose its crimes in Gaza.

Among the invitees were Palestinian Ambassador to Brasilia Ibrahim Al-Zaben, President of the Brazilian-Palestinian Institute (Iberspal) Ahmed Shehadeh and President of the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (FEPAL) Ualid Rabah.

This session represented a great achievement. It is not easy for Palestinian figures to be invited to the Brazilian Parliament. Many obstacles were placed in front of these calls, but we were able to overcome them with the support of Brazilian deputies who support our cause, Shehada was quoted as saying by Middle East Monitor.

This session broke the silence of Brazilian activists and made them return to their principles of supporting Palestine and raising their voices against injustice, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against the Palestinians, Shehada added.

After the session, more than 60 representatives and congressmen signed a petition urging Brazil’s President Lula Da Silva to call for an urgent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to take a more effective role toward Israel’s crimes in Gaza.

The signatories also called for the withdrawal of the Brazilian ambassador from Israel and cancellation of the entire cooperation agreements with the occupation regime.

As President Lula said nothing can justify this genocide on Gaza where people have been killed, around half of them children. Furthermore, thousands of homes have been destroyed and people suffer from illegal and inhumane restrictions on accessing water, food, energy and internet, the petition said.

We urge the Brazilian government to act energetically to end this genocide ... We also ask the Brazilian government to recall the Brazilian ambassador to Israel for consultation and end all military and security cooperation agreements with Israel, it added.

Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the Israeli regime’s intensified crimes against Palestinians.

Since then, the occupying regime has embarked on an incessant bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with the Gaza-based health ministry announcing on Friday that 11,078 people, including 4,506 children, have been killed, and 27,490 others have sustained injuries.

The Tel Aviv regime has also blocked access to water, food, and electricity in Gaza, plunging the coastal area into a humanitarian crisis.

Top US university suspends groups protesting Gaza war

Columbia University, a private Ivy League research university in New York City, announced on Friday that it had suspended two student groups organizing protests against the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Gerald Rosberg, Columbia University’s chair of the special committee on campus safety, said Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace would be suspended throughout the fall semester.

This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation, Rosberg claimed in a statement.

Rosberg said the suspension would be lifted if the two groups agreed to abide by campus regulations.

US media reported that hundreds of Columbia University students took to the campuses on Thursday and called on Washington to push for a ceasefire in Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza.

Calling on the prestigious university to term Israel’s onslaught on Gaza as genocide, the students demanded that the university boycott and divest from Israeli institutions.