Israel declared Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva persona non grata on Monday, following statements in which he compared Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust.
The government called the Brazilian ambassador in the country, Federico Mayer, to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem. There, Foreign Minister Israel Katz told him that Lula is "persona non grata in Israel until he retracts his statements."
