KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took a swipe Saturday at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, saying they “stopped working” and failed to protect Gaza’s war victims.
Lula was speaking after meeting Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, ahead of a major regional summit where the Brazilian leader will likely meet US President Donald Trump.
“Who can accept the genocide that has been going on in the Gaza Strip for so long?” Lula told reporters after the bilateral meeting aimed at deepening ties between the two nations.
“The multilateral institutions that were created to try to prevent these things from happening have stopped working. Today, the UN Security Council and the UN no longer function,” Lula said.
His remarks come amid ongoing tensions between Israel and Brazil over the South American country’s stance on Gaza and repeated accusations that Israel is committing genocide, charges that Jerusalem vociferously reject.
In August, Israel downgraded its diplomatic ties after Brazil refused to approve Jerusalem’s ambassadorial nominee, citing a “critical and hostile line” from Lula. Israel had previously declared the Brazilian president “persona non grata” after he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, drawing a parallel to Hitler.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the October, 7, 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostages.
Israel and Hamas are currently observing a tense ceasefire brokered by Trump that saw Hamas return the last remaining living hostages and commit to also returning the bodies of slain hostages.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) shakes hands with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during a bilateral meeting at the official residence of the prime minister in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur on October 25, 2025. (Vincent Thian/POOL /AFP)
Israel pulled back its positions in Gaza and released some 2,000 Palestinians prisoners, including 250 serving life terms for deadly terrorism
Lula also appeared to criticize Trump, saying, “For a leader, walking with their head held high is more important than a Nobel Prize.”
Trump departed Washington on Friday for Asia and high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, the last day of his trip.
But first, the US president is expected to witness the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia on Sunday, which he — in part — helped to broker.
The White House lashed out this month at the Norwegian Nobel Committee after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked Trump.
Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas truce.
And yet, other leaders have supported Trump’s Nobel aspirations. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared an AI-generated image of Trump receiving the prize, with Netanyahu standing at his side and the caption: “Give [Donald Trump] the Nobel Peace Prize — he deserves it.”
In an AI-generated image published October 9, 2025, US President Donald Trump (center) wears an oversized Nobel Peace Prize medal as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands at his side. (X/Prime Minister of Israel)
Machado herself also expressed support for Trump: in an interview published on October 11, she said she believes he deserves to win next year’s prize.
“I mean, in only nine months, so many conflicts have been solved or prevented,” she said.
Meanwhile, Trump and Lula have begun to patch up their differences after months of bad blood over the trial and conviction of Trump’s ally, the far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump has instituted a 50-percent tariff on many Brazilian products and imposed sanctions on several top officials, including a top Supreme Court judge, to punish Brazil for what he termed a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
US President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands before a dinner with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago, March 7, 2020, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro in September to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup bid after his 2022 election loss to Lula.
But relations between Trump and Lula began to thaw when the two 79-year-old leaders had a brief meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.
They then spoke by phone on October 6 and first raised the possibility of meeting at the ASEAN summit.
