Israel says the Brazilian president is not welcome in the country after comparing Israel's war in Gaza to the Holocaust.
Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Israel, and Israel says Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is not welcome in the country in a diplomatic rift after Lula compared Israel's military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has not happened at any other time in history. In reality, it happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula said on Sunday.
During World War II, the Nazis systematically killed six million Jews.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Lula's comments “shameful and serious.”
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that Lula is not welcome in the Middle Eastern country until he retracts his comments.
“We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious anti-Semitic attack. “On behalf of myself and the citizens of Israel, tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he gets it back,” Katz told Brazil’s ambassador, according to a statement from Katz’s office.
In response, Brazil's Foreign Ministry said it would summon Israel's ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, to a meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
“He [Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira] He also called the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Frederico Meyer, for consultations. Tomorrow he will leave for Brazil,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added on Monday.
Meanwhile, Lula, 78, also faced backlash at home for his remarks on Sunday, which came during a news conference on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
The Brazil-Israel Institute called his comments “vulgar” and warned that they risked “fueling anti-Semitism.”
Lula condemned the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 against southern Israel as a “terrorist” act on the day they occurred, and has since openly criticized Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza.
