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FILE - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, arrives for a German and Brazil governments meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. Israel on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, condemned Brazil's president for comparing the situation in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of being antisemitic and trivializing the Naza genocide of European Jews during World War II. The outcry further strained relations between the countries, which have deteriorated since President Lula returned to office last year. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Israel says Brazil's president unwelcome until he apologizes for comparing Gaza war to Holocaust

Israel’s foreign minister says Brazil’s president will not be welcome in Israel until he apologizes for comments he made comparing Israel’s war in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of a “very serious anti-Semitic attack.”

By MELANIE LIDMAN and ELEONORE HUGHES
Published - Feb 19, 2024, 01:50 PM ET
Last Updated - Feb 19, 2024, 01:50 PM EST

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister said Monday that Brazil’s president would not be welcome in Israel until he apologizes for comments he made comparing Israel’s war in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of a “very serious antisemitic attack.”

On Sunday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” Lula made the comments while speaking to reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Israel’s national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem on Monday for a reprimand.

“The things that Lula said when he compared the righteous war of the State of Israel against Hamas, which murdered and massacred the Jews, and Hitler and the Nazis is shameful and unacceptable,” Katz said.

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