The diplomatic crisis caused by the declarations of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, comparing the war in Gaza to the Shoah, escalated on Monday February 19: Lula is now “persona non grata” in Israel, while Israeli ambassador was summoned by the government of Brasilia.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is a genocide,” Lula told reporters from a summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday. He attended an African Union summit, drawing a comparison between the Israeli offensive and the extermination of Jews by the Nazis. “Shameful and serious” remarks, Benjamin Netanyahu immediately denounced on Sunday.
“I informed President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he apologizes and retracts his remarks,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said during a visit to the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, where he summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Israel.
“The comments made by Brazilian President Lula when he compared the just war of the State of Israel against Hamas, which murdered and massacred Jews, to Hitler and the Nazis are a disgrace and an anti-Semitic attack serious against the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” added Mr. Katz during this ceremony.
The Brazilian foreign minister responded by summoning the Israeli ambassador to Brazil on Monday. “Faced with the seriousness of this morning’s statements from the Israeli government, Minister Mauro Vieira (…) summoned the Israeli ambassador [to Brazil], Daniel Zonshine” to Rio de Janeiro, indicates a press release from the Brazilian ministry.
He further “recalled for consultations the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Frederico Meyer, who will leave for Brazil (Tuesday).”
