After downgrading diplomatic relations, Israeli minister attacks Lula again and accuses him of antisemitism.

247 - Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz intensified his attacks on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in a post on the X network, accusing him of being an "openly anti-Semitic" and supporting Hamas. According to Katz, Brazil's decision to withdraw from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) would be a sign of alignment with regimes considered hostile to Israel, such as Iran. "Now, he [Lula] has revealed his true face as an openly anti-Semitic and Hamas supporter by withdrawing Brazil from the IHRA, placing the country alongside regimes like Iran, which openly denies the Holocaust and threatens to destroy the State of Israel. As Israel's Minister of Defense, I affirm: we will know how to defend ourselves against the axis of evil of radical Islam, even without the help of Lula and his allies," Katz wrote. 

Tensions grew after the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty) failed to respond to the request for agrément for the appointment of diplomat Gali Dagan as ambassador to Brasília. According to... g1Although there is no record of a formal refusal, the lack of response was interpreted by Israel as a rejection. In reaction, the Israeli government announced the withdrawal of the nomination and stated that it will not present another name, thus conducting relations with Brazil at a "lower" diplomatic level.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted in a statement that the decision was made after Brazil "refrained from responding" to the request and stressed that it will maintain contact with the "many circles of friends of Israel in Brazil."

The Special Advisor for International Affairs to the Presidency, Celso Amorim, denied that there had been a direct veto of Dagan's nomination. According to him, the decision was a consequence of the treatment received by the then Brazilian ambassador to Israel, Frederico Meyer. “There was no veto. They asked for an agrément and we didn't give it. We didn't respond. We simply didn't give it. They understood and gave up. They humiliated our ambassador there, a public humiliation. After that, what did they want?” Amorim stated.

He added that Brazil wishes to maintain good relations with Israel, but condemns the offensive in Gaza. “We want to have a good relationship with Israel. But we cannot accept genocide, which is what is happening. We are not against Israel. We are against what the Netanyahu government is doing, which is barbaric.”

Bilateral relations began to deteriorate after the attacks of October 7, 2023, when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized the Israeli military response in Gaza. On that occasion, the president compared the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government to those of the Nazis, provoking a strong reaction in Tel Aviv.

In February 2024, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz took the Brazilian ambassador to the Holocaust Museum, a gesture interpreted in Brasília as an act of public embarrassment. A few months later, Brazil withdrew Frederico Meyer, then ambassador in Tel Aviv, and did not appoint a replacement. Since then, President Lula has been declared "persona non grata" by Israel, which has deepened the diplomatic crisis.

Brazilian diplomats believe Ambassador Meyer was the target of an "ambush" by the Israeli government after being summoned to explain President Lula's statement comparing the massacre of Palestinian civilians to the Holocaust. In an attempt at intimidation, they presented Meyer to the Israeli Foreign Minister speaking in Hebrew, even though Meyer does not speak the language.