Brazil-Israel row escalates as Lula declared 'persona non grata'
Lula da Silva's comparison of Israel's military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust has unleashed a diplomatic firestorm, with Brazil recalling its ambassador Monday and Israel declaring Lula «persona non grata.»
The row erupted the day before when Lula 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.»
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula had «crossed a red line.» His government summoned Brazil's ambassador for a meeting Monday 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 Lula.
In a tit-for-tat move, the Brazilian foreign ministry then said it had also summoned the Israeli ambassador to Brazil for a meeting later that same day, and recalled its own ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations, «given the gravity of the statements this morning by the government of Israel.»
The Brazilian ambassador will depart Tel Aviv Tuesday, it said in a statement.
G20 meeting
Veteran leftist Lula, 78, is a prominent voice for the Global South whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the G20.
His comments came as Brazil prepares to host a G20 foreign ministers' meeting Wednesday and Thursday, when top diplomats including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
