Brazil recalls its ambassador to Israel after tense months over Gaza War

The Brazilian government announced the official recall of its ambassador to Israel in an official gazette last Wednesday.

The move came following months of tensions between the two countries over Israel’s handling of the Gaza War and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s history of anti-Israel sentiment. 

In February, Lula compared Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to Hitler’s treatment of Jews during the Holocaust, calling it a genocide. 

Speaking at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Brazilian president stated: “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide. It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army, and women and children.” 

Lula continued: “What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history” except one: “When Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” 

Following Lula’s comments, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Meyer to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem for a reprimand. 

“The comparison between Israel's just war against Hamas, and the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazis, is a shame and disgrace and a serious anti-Semitic attack,” Katz stated.

Following the reprimand, President Lula ordered Meyer to return to Brazil, leaving the embassy in Israel without an ambassador under the administration of the chargé d’affaires. 

An official at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press the official dismissal of Meyer came in response to the ambassador's “humiliation” by Katz's remarks.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Any appointment of a new Brazilian ambassador to Israel will be announced in due course in a press release. For the time being, the Brazilian Embassy in Tel Aviv continues to function under the leadership of the chargé d’affaires.” 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it had received no official notice of the recall, but said it would summon the No. 2 embassy officer, Fabio Farias, for an explanation. 

The decision was slammed by the Israeli Confederation of Brazil, a local pro-Israel group, which posted a statement to social media. 

“The Brazilian government’s unilateral measure moves us away from the Brazilian diplomatic tradition of balance and seeking dialogue and prevents Brazil from exercising its desired role as mediator and protagonist in the Middle East,” the group wrote.