EVARISTO SA / AFP
The Brazilian president has been persona non grata in Israel since he compared the war in Gaza to the Holocaust on Sunday, February 18.
INTERNATIONAL – The diplomatic crisis between Brazil and Israel is increasing. Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira summoned the Israeli Ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, this Monday, February 19, after President Lula was declared “persona non grata” in Israel for his comments comparing the war in Gaza to the Shoah “ had been explained. Israel had previously summoned the Brazilian ambassador to protest.
The diplomatic row began on Sunday when Lula made extremely vicious comments about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, calling the war a “genocide.”
“Shameful and serious” comments
“What is happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza has never happened at any other time in history. In fact, this has already happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” he told the press from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was attending an African Union summit.
A few hours after this statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted sharply, denouncing “shameful and serious” comments. He even went so far as to say that Lula had “dishonored the memory of 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis.”
And tensions did not subside on Monday. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Lula is now “persona non grata” in the Jewish state “until he apologizes and retracts his statements.”
“A serious anti-Semitic attack”
“Brazilian President Lula’s comments comparing the State of Israel’s just war against Hamas, which murdered and massacred Jews, to Hitler and the Nazis are a disgrace and a serious anti-Semitic attack on the Jewish people and the state.” Israel,” explained Israel Katz during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, where he himself summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Israel.
Government spokesman Eylon Levy echoed that sentiment on Monday when, during a news conference, he denounced “the perpetrators of a real genocide, the Hamas death squads that burned people alive,” and cremated entire families and turned them into human ashes in October 7.” ” We will not tolerate leaders around the world attempting to provide political or legal protection to Hamas,” he added.
Hamas, for its part, welcomed in these comments “an accurate description of what (its) people are suffering in Gaza” and revealed “the enormity of the crime committed by Israel.”
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