Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva recalled his country’s ambassador to Israel this week.
This followed Israel saying that Lula would not be welcome in the country until he apologized for comments he made over the weekend that condemned the Israeli assault on Palestinians in Gaza, saying it brought to mind some of the crimes committed by Germany in the Holocaust.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz described Lula’s comments as a “very serious anti-Semitic attack.”
The Brazilian president told the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it has,” he said, mentioning the Holocaust.
Katz summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Israel’s National Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem on Monday for a reprimand.
He said: “The things that Lula said when he compared the righteous war of the state of Israel against Hamas, which murdered and massacred the Jews, and Hitler and the Nazis is shameful and unacceptable.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Lula’s comments “trivialized the Holocaust” and “crossed a red line.”
Celso Amorim, former foreign affairs minister and a special adviser to Lula, told news outlets that Israel’s reaction was “absurd and only increases Israel’s isolation.”
Amorim added, “At the moment, it is Israel that is persona non grata.”
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