Jerusalem, Undefined – Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva is not welcome in Israel until he apologizes for comparing its ongoing war against Hamas to the Holocaust, the country’s foreign minister said Monday.
Lula’s remarks on Sunday sparked outcry in Israel after the Brazilian leader said the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip “isn’t a war, it’s a genocide” and compared it to “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews”.
Israel summoned Brazil’s ambassador for a meeting with Foreign Minister Israel Katz at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem.
“He’s persona non grata in the state of Israel so long as he doesn’t retract his remarks and apologize,” Katz said of the Brazilian leader.
Nazi Germany systematically exterminated six million Jews during the Holocaust — an estimated one-third of world Jewry.
After the war, the newfound state of Israel took in hundreds of thousands of survivors.
On Sunday, the head of Yad Vashem, Dani Dayan, said that Lula’s remarks “exhibit clear anti-Semitism” and called his comparison of the war in Gaza to the Holocaust “unacceptable”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula had “crossed a red line” with his comments.