Benjamin Netanyahu's "Vampetaço"
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Overview
Benjamin Netanyahu's "Vampetaço" refers to an online protest on Twitter / X in which Brazilians utilized an NFSW naked picture of footballer Vampeta to flood the comment sections of Israeli officials and supporters, especially Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The trend started in late February 2024 after Brazil's President Lula da Silva compared the Israeli military actions in Palestinian territory to the Holocaust against Jews during World War II. His statement caused a political crisis, as Netanyahu went to X to criticize the Brazilian President but was quickly met with thousands of NFSW images of a naked Brazilian footballer with a censor bar on his genitals with the text "CEASE FIRE" written across it.
Background
On February 18th, 2024, Brazil's President Lula da Silva stated that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, but a genocide,” referencing the actions of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler against the Jews[1]. A few days later, on February 20th, Lula was considered "persona non grata" by the Israeli government for his statements, as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the President was "trivializing holocaust and crossing a red line."
A video about the incident was uploaded on February 18th, 2024, by the YouTube channel @HT-Videos,[2] which explained how the events started. The video (shown below) amassed over 88,000 views and 2,200 likes in a week.
Developments
After Benjamin Netanyahu's government considered Lula a "persona non grata," which means he became unwelcome and unacceptable to enter Israeli territory because of his statement, Brazilians started an online protest on X using an NSFW image of footballer Vampeta from the 1990s to flood the comment sections of the Israeli PM's account and his supporters.
The protest started on February 20th, 2024, after the official Israel X[3] account replied to a post about Brazil, tweeting, "Before or after @LulaOficial went full on Holocaust denier?" The post (shown below, left) amassed more than 36,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in a week. One Brazilian, @jairmearrependi,[4] replied to Israel's post by sharing the picture of Vampeta naked with his genitals covered with the text "CEASE FIRE." The post (shown below, right) amassed over 11,000 likes and 442 retweets in a week.
Online Reactions
Following @jairmearrependi's viral tweet using the NSFW image of the footballer, the user called others to join[5] the "Vampetaço," a protest in which social media users flooded the comment sections of other X users with the naked pictures of Vampeta. For instance, on February 20th, 2024, X[6] user @Normose_ called Vampetaço a "weapon from people forged in chaos," which garnered roughly 11,000 likes and 1,200 retweets in a week. (shown below, left)
On February 23rd, X[7] user @livialamblet posted a variation of the meme featuring Brazilians and Israeli people in front of the NFSW image, which has the text "Israel is not a legitimate state" censoring the footballer's genitals. The tweet (shown below, right) garnered over 5,300 likes and 511 retweets in three days.
Various Examples
Vampetaço é o mais puro suco de como tratamos personas non gratas.
Parabéns aos envolvidos. pic.twitter.com/TJwerF8BJ8— Aline Barreto da Silva (@alinebarreto) February 21, 2024
