From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 19, 2024
Israel declares Brazil’s Lula ‘persona non grata’ over comparison of Gaza war to Holocaust
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the son of Holocaust survivors, takes Brazil’s Ambassador Federico Mayer to Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem to reprimand him over Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s comparison of Israel’s campaign against Hamas to the Holocaust.
In front of the cameras, Katz tells Mayer that Lula is not welcome in Israel. “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.”
“I brought you to a place that testifies more than anything else to what the Nazis and Hitler did to the Jews, including members of my family,” says Katz. “The comparison between Israel’s just war against Hamas, and the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazis, is a shame.”
Somewhat unusually for a diplomatic reprimand, the two also tour Yad Vashem together, and Katz shows Mayer the form with the names of his grandparents who were killed in the Shoah.
“It seems like he internalized the message,” says an Israeli official who was present.
