Thousands of mourners showed up to pay their respects to a Brazilian university student who was killed by Hamas while living abroad in Israel. Bruna Valeanu was a 24-year-old student at Tel Aviv University who fell victim to the surprise attack that Hamas launched last week.
Valeanu has been living in Israel for the last ten years. She was attending a music festival in Israel on Saturday when Hamas operatives arrived and slaughtered her along with hundreds of other festival-goers.
According to Breitbart news, Valeanu only had two relatives in Israel. This caused a problem as in Jewish tradition, the men over the age of thirteen need to accompany the family to funerals. Minyan is a Jewish law that dictates that a quorum of ten men must be present to host an official prayer service.
According to reports coming from Israeli media, over 10,000 people flooded to the funeral to make sure that a proper service was able to be held for the family of Valeanu. The service was able to go off without a hitch apparently, and the family was able to properly mourn their loss according to Jewish customs.
The funeral was scheduled for 20min ago. We thought we were early. Still 1.4km just to reach the entrance of the cemetery. Israelis are amazing at responding to calls to attend funerals. Such strong social solidarity here in the absolute darkest of circumstances. pic.twitter.com/lZ0vbojc4w
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) October 10, 2023
The Brazilian Government offered a statement regard the bloodshed suffered in Israel at the hands of Hamas and the loss of Bruna Valeanu. “The Brazilian government laments and expresses its profound grief at the death of the Brazilian citizen Bruna Valeanu, 24 years old, native of Rio de Janeiro, the second [Brazilian] victim of the attacks on October 7 in Israel. In solidarity with the family and friends of Bruna, the Brazilian government reiterates its total repudiation of all acts of violence against civilians.”
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revealed his stance on the current events taking place in Gaza on X. He did not take the time to condemn or even mention Hamas, which as drawn strong criticism on the global stage.
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He wrote, “I was shocked by the terrorist attacks carried out today against civilians in Israel, which caused numerous victims. In expressing my condolences to the families of the victims, I reaffirm my rejection of terrorism in any of its forms. Brazil will spare no efforts to prevent the escalation of the conflict, including when exercising the Presidency of the UN Security Council. I call on the international community to work to immediately resume negotiations that lead to a solution to the conflict that guarantees the existence of an economically viable Palestinian State, coexisting peacefully with Israel within safe borders for both sides.”
Donald Trump, on the other hand, was quick to condemn Hamas and to call for the United States to give aide to Israel in its time of need. He claims that these atrocities would have never happened under his watch, saying, “Less than four years ago, we had peace in the Middle East with the historic Abraham Accords. Today we have an all-out war in Israel, and it’s going to spread very quickly. What a difference a president makes.”