A former health secretary of the state of São Paulo on Sunday announced that he has left the mayoral campaign of frontrunner Guilherme Boulos due to the candidate not naming Hamas in a statement condemning attacks on civilians in Israel.
Mr. Boulos, who is leading the latest Datafolha poll for the 2024 mayoral race in Brazil’s largest city, said in a statement on Sunday that he “condemns, without mincing words, the violent attacks on civilians, such as those that killed 250 Israelis and 232 Palestinians in the last few hours.” He added that he supports “a peaceful and lasting solution.”
The death toll on both sides has since risen to more than 1,200. At least 260 of those killed had been attending a music festival near the border with Gaza when Hamas attacked.
Jean Gorinchteyn, who became nationally famous in Brazil for participating in regular press conferences on the Covid emergency in São Paulo state, announced a few hours later on Instagram that he had left Mr. Boulos’s campaign due to “a pro-Palestinian stance that does not mention or condemn the armed extremist Islamic group Hamas for the terrorist attacks in Israel last Saturday.”
Mr. Gorinchteyn’s presence in Mr. Boulos’s campaign had only recently been announced, and he was seen as an important asset by supporters. He told CNN Brasil last Friday he had joined the campaign and that he was “surprised” by the candidate’s “maturity.” The Brazilian Report understands that he did not join the campaign in a formal capacity.
Mr. Gorinchteyn served as health secretary under center-right former Governor João Doria, who held a staunch defense of Covid vaccines in a political battle against the denialism of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Mr. Gorinchteyn, who is Jewish, also told CNN Brasil that his children recently came back from Israel and that they lost two friends in the Hamas attack on the music festival. “We are not against Palestine. But it is essential that terrorist groups are named in our speeches and opposed anywhere in the world,” he said.
In a statement, Mr. Boulos’s Socialism and Freedom Party (Psol) said it “regrets” deaths in Israel — without using the word “civilians” — and reiterated its condemnation of what it calls “Israel’s Zionist apartheid.” The statement also does not cite Hamas by name.
UPDATE: After losing important moderate conservative support because he issued a statement on the Israel-Palestine conflict that didn’t mention Hamas, São Paulo mayoral frontrunner Guilherme Boulos issued a statement condemning the militant group — saying it does not represent the Palestinian people.
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