Brazil has withdrawn from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), where it had served as an observer member since 2021, Israel's foreign ministry and Brazilian media announced last Thursday.
"Brazil’s decision to join [South Africa's] legal offensive against Israel at the ICJ while withdrawing from the IHRA, is a demonstration of a profound moral failure," tweeted Israel's foreign ministry last week.
"At a time when Israel is fighting for its very existence, turning against the Jewish state and abandoning the global consensus against antisemitism is both reckless and shameful."
While the Brazilian government has not officially confirmed the withdrawal from IHRA, the move has been confirmed by various anti-Israeli Brazilian groups. Brazilian paper Metrópoles also claimed that the Israeli embassy in Brasilia has been informed.
Sources from Brazil's foreign ministry told another paper, UOL, that one of the reasons for the withdrawal is the financial resources that are needed in order to remain with the alliance.
Criticism of Jewish groups
The OAS (Organization of American States) Commissioner for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism, Fernando Lottenberg, said on X "The Brazilian government's decision is a mistake."
"Brazil has the second largest Jewish community in Latin America, and being integrated into the IHRA is a way to demonstrate commitment to a culture of peace and to promoting education about the Holocaust and combating antisemitism."
"The IHRA definition of antisemitism represents an important tool that, although not legally binding, is adopted by over 45 countries and 2,000 institutions worldwide to inform, identify, and combat antisemitism."
"Especially at a time of rising hate cases, as has been recorded in Brazil, great care must be taken so that actions unrelated to diplomatic tensions do not affect the safety of the large Jewish community living in the country."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center Latin America said, "Withdrawing Brazil from an international organization that seeks to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and combat antisemitism is not a measure against the State of Israel. It is contempt for Jews and will allow [Lula] to compare us to the Nazis without remorse."
CAM Director of Hispanic Affairs Shay Salamon called the Brazilian government's move "irresponsible" and "alarming at a time of rising antisemitism worldwide."
"Denying the importance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and abandoning its Working Definition of Antisemitism minimizes the Holocaust and disregards the history of a people who have been victimized by hatred for ages.”
Salamon referenced Brazil's Jewish community, the second-largest in Latin America, adding, "Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has now turned his back on them.”
“This decision, on top of his constant attacks on Israel, further confirms what was already clear - President Lula has normalized antisemitism in his official discourse. His approach represents neither neutrality nor diplomacy - rather, it’s complicity," Salamon reiterated.
Anti-Israel support for Brazil
The Palestine Arab Federation of Brazil (FEPAL), however, celebrated the withdrawal from IHRA, which it called "an arm of Zionism created to hijack the memory of the Euro-Jewish holocaust by the Nazis and instrumentalize it at the service of the colonial and genocidal project of 'Israel' in Palestine."
In its statement on Friday, FEPAL said IHRA has been used to "aid the extermination of Palestinians" by "shielding 'Israel' from criticism, legitimizing racist, supremacist, genocidal, colonial and apartheid Zionist policies against the Palestinian people and, not least, persecute and criminalize those who dare to denounce the Palestinian Holocaust."
FEPAL went on to criticize attempts from Brazilian figures to push the country's adoption of the IHRA definition, specifically mentioning Bill 472/2025, authored by Deputy Eduardo Pazuello (PL-RJ), which it called "the Zionist Gag Bill."
"This Federation celebrates the decision of the Brazilian government to withdraw from the "International Alliance for the Remembrance of the Holocaust", rejecting the Zionist intimidation and the attempt to make the Brazilian State and society hostage to the interests of "Israel" and the USA, the greatest murderers in human history, as well as the decision of Brazil to join South Africa's lawsuit against "Israel" for genocide at the International Court of Justice," it concluded.