Israel’s Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz summoned Brazilian Ambassador to Israel Federico Mayer to Yad Vashem for a reprimand on Monday.

The unusual move [as reprimands are normally carried out in the Foreign Ministry] came in the wake of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s outrageous remarks comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Nazis’ genocide of the Jewish people.

Katz, who is the son of Holocaust survivors who lost their entire families in the concentration camps, spoke to Mayer in front of the cameras at Yad Vashem.

“I brought you to a place that testifies more than anything else to what the Nazis and Hitler did to the Jews, murdering six million, including members of my family, my grandfather and grandmother, and many of their relatives,” Katz said. “I want to say to you here that the statements that the Brazilian President made, comparing Israel’s just war against Hamas, who slaughtered Jews, to Hitler and the Nezis is a disgrace and a severe antisemitic attack on the Jewish nation and the State of Israel.”

“I request that you convey to the President in my name and the name of Israeli citizens that we won’t forgive and that he is now a persona non grata in Israel as long as he does not retract his words and apologize.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)