Diplomatic Crisis Between Brazil and Israel Intensifies as Lula Recalls Ambassador
Tensions escalate between two countries after Brazilian president’s comments comparing war in Gaza to Holocaust
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recalled his country’s ambassador to Israel on Monday, hours after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared Lula persona non grata in the country as tensions between the two countries continued to mount.
Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira called the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Frederico Meyer, back to the country for consultations and he is leaving for Brazil on Tuesday, said a statement from the country’s Foreign Ministry.
On Monday, Israel said Lula is not welcome in the country until he takes back comments he made comparing Israel’s war on Gaza to the Holocaust.
“We will not forget nor forgive,” said Katz, who chose a symbolic venue for the reprimand — the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem.
“It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and in the name of the citizens of Israel, convey this to President Lula, who is persona non grata in Israel until he backs down,” he added.
Katz’s statements came after the Brazilian head of state on Sunday compared the war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jewish people during the 1930s and 1940s.
“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide. It is not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It is a war between a very prepared army and women and children,” he added.
“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula told reporters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, for a meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
Lula has condemned the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel as a “terrorist” act but has also criticized Israel’s attacks on Gaza, which have killed nearly 29,000 people, according to Palestinian authorities.
