Brazil recalls ambassador to Israel for consultations after Lula's Hitler comments — paper

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has ordered that the country’s ambassador to Tel Aviv be recalled for consulta...

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RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has ordered that the country’s ambassador to Tel Aviv be recalled for consultations amid tensions over the Brazilian leader’s remark about Israel’s actions in Gaza being comparable to the atrocities Hitler committed, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported.

According to the paper, the decision came in response to Israel’s move to summon the Brazilian envoy to the Foreign Ministry.

Lula da Silva stated on February 18 that Israel killing scores of civilian in its bombing of the Gaza Strip was on a par with what Hitler did to the Jews. On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the Brazilian president’s remark as "shameful," and said that together with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, he had decided to immediately summon Brazil’s ambassador to Israel for "a strict reprimand."

On February 19, Katz declared the Brazilian president persona non grata until he apologized and reneged on the comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany. Lula da Silva’s special envoy for international affairs Celso Amorim, in turn, said that the head of state had no intention of apologizing.

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