Lula was declared “persona non grata” in Israel
“We will not forgive and we will not forget on my behalf and on behalf of the citizens of Israel, I have informed President Lula that he is 'persona non grata' in Israel until he apologizes and withdraws,” the foreign minister wrote from Israel, Israel Katz, on social media.
The term “persona non grata” (someone who is not welcome, in loose translation) is a legal instrument used in international relations to indicate that a foreign official representative is no longer welcome. The term was described in Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Katz also stated that “Brazilian President Lula's comparison between Israel's just war against Hamas and the actions of Hitler and the Nazis that exterminated 6 million Jews is a serious antiSemitic attack that desecrates the memory of those who died in the Holocaust .”
At the end of the week, Lula labeled Israel's response in the Gaza Strip to the Hamas terrorist attacks in early October as a “genocide” and a “massacre.” He compared the Israeli action to the extermination of millions of Jews by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler last century (see video below).
“What is happening in Gaza and with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment. In fact, it existed: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula said.
Lula made these statements during an interview in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he attended the final days of the 37th African Union Summit and bilateral meetings with heads of state from the continent.
Lula compares the war in Gaza to Hitler's actions
The Prime Minister said on a social network that the statement trivialized the Holocaust the genocide committed against around six million Jews during World War II.
“Comparing Israel to the Nazi Holocaust and Hitler crosses a red line. “Israel is fighting to defend itself and secure its future until complete victory,” Netanyahu said.
1 of 1 UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip. The organization is also present in the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan Photo: Picture Alliance/dpa/APA/ZUMA Press Wire UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip. The company is also present in the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan Photo: Picture Alliance/dpa/APA/ZUMA Press Wire
What is happening to UNRWA?
At the end of January, some employees of the United Nations Disaster Relief Agency (UNRWA) were accused of involvement in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said the site was a front for the terror group.
“The agency has been compromised in three ways: by hiring terrorists in large numbers, by using its facilities for Hamas military activities, and by relying on Hamas to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
At the time, the agency said the employees had been fired pending an investigation. According to UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres, a preliminary report from the review team will be submitted by the end of March, and a final report will be submitted and published by the end of April.
Following the indictment, ten of the agency's top sponsoring countries temporarily stopped their donations to the institution: Germany, USA, Australia, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Finland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
An agency spokesman also said UNRWA would be able to provide services across the region, including Gaza, by February if funding was not resumed.
Founded in 1949 after the first ArabIsraeli war, UNRWA provides services such as education, basic health care and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.