Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday declared that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is uninvited in Israel until he takes back his remarks comparing the campaign against Hamas in Gaza to the Nazi genocide.
Summoning Brazil’s ambassador on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s instructions, Katz emphasised the seriousness of Lula’s comments. “The Brazilian leader is “persona non grata” until he takes back the remark”, says Katz.
According to a statement from his office, he has instructed the message to be conveyed to Lula through Brazil’s ambassador, stating, “We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel – tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back.”
The Brazilian President on Sunday accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Drawing a comparison between Israeli military actions and Adolf Hitler’s campaign to kill the Jewish people, he said, “It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”
Lula told reporters that what was happening in the Gaza Strip “isn’t a war, it’s a genocide”. “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” he said.
Netanyahu deemed them as “shameful and grave”, and said that his government had called in Brazil’s ambassador in protest.
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