Brazil recalls ambassador to Israel in row over Lula’s Hitler comments

“In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” said Lula during a weekend African Union summit in Addis Ababa, referring to Nazi war crimes during World War II.

Israel incensed after Brazil’s Lula likens Gaza war to Holocaust

Earlier on Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that Lula is not welcome in the Middle Eastern country until he takes back his comments. “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,” Katz told Brazil’s ambassador, according to a statement from Katz’s office.

Brazil’s foreign ministry said it would summon Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, for a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, where Brazil’s top diplomat is attending a G20 meeting.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has since devastated much of Gaza, killing more than 29,000 people, also mostly civilians according to Palestinian health authorities, and forcing nearly all of its more than 2 million inhabitants from their homes.