Israel declares Brazil's Lula 'persona non grata' as Gaza row escalates

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's comparison of Israel's war in besieged Gaza to the Holocaust has unleashed a diplomatic firestorm, with Israel declaring Lula "persona non grata" and Brazil recalling its ambassador.

The row erupted the day before when Lula said the ongoing war on the blockaded enclave "isn't a war, it's a genocide," and compared it to "when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

After over four months of relentless bombardment of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula had "crossed a red line." His government summoned Brazil's ambassador for a meeting on Monday with Foreign Minister Israel Katz at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem.

"He's persona non grata in the state of Israel so long as he doesn't retract his remarks and apologise," 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 on Tuesday, it said in a statement.

Division

Hamas hailed Lula's remarks for its "accurate description" of Israel's war on besieged Gaza.

Political allies meanwhile rushed to Lula's defence. First Lady Rosangela "Janja" da Silva, a long-time member of his Workers' Party [PT], said his comments "defended... women and children, who represent the majority of victims" in the war.

"His statements referred to the genocidal [Israeli] government, not the Jewish people," she wrote on X.

Lula's conservative opponents also pounced on his remarks, which outraged many in the Evangelical Christian community, which is staunchly pro-Israel.

"Lula not only showed his ignorance of history, he showed the world the hatred in his heart against the state of Israel," lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.