Brazilian journalist Jose Carlos Bernardi, apologized after saying that the pathway to wealth was to kill mass amounts of Jews.
On Tuesday, Bernardi appeared on Jovem Pan, the main Brazilian radio station based in São Paulo, Brazil. During a panel discussion about a visit by former Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva to Germany, Bernardo was asked by journalist Amanda Klein how Brazil could attain the same level of economic development as present-day Germany.
“Only by attacking Jews will we get there,” Bernardi responded. “If we kill a gazillion Jews and appropriate their economic power, then Brazil will get rich. That’s what happened with Germany after the war.”
General outrage ensued. CONIB, the umbrella group of Brazilian Jewish communities, said in a statement that Bernardi’s remarks caused “distress and pain” to many Jews and reiterated its position against comparing contemporary political issues to the Holocaust. A prosecutor in Sao Paulo is investigating the possibility of charging Bernardi with incitement to hatred, according to the Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Commercio.
In a statement on Wednesday, Bernardi said he “apologized for the unfortunate remarks” he had made, saying his intention was to address and highlight the injustice done to Jews by Germany rather than recommend it as a course of action. He explained that he had intended to highlight the injustice done to the Jews by Germany rather than incite more violence against them.
Jovem Pan also apologized for the remarks though has not responded to calls to fire Bernardi.