Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is not welcome in Israel until he takes back comments likening the war against Hamas militants in Gaza to the Nazi genocide during World War Two, the Israeli foreign minister said on Monday.

“We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel, tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Brazil’s ambassador, according to a statement from Katz’s office.

Israel has accused Lula of trivializing the Holocaust and causing offense to the Jewish people in remarks to the 37th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. 

“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula told reporters on Sunday during the 37th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the comparison was “crossing a red line.”

Katz summoned the Brazilian ambassador to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem on Monday for a reprimand over the remarks.

On October 7, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas sent fighters into Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has since devastated much of Gaza, killing more than 29,000 people, also mostly civilians according to Palestinian health authorities, and forcing nearly all of its more than 2 million inhabitants from their homes.

On Sunday, Lula also condemned the suspension of humanitarian aid to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), urging an investigation into errors without cutting off funding to help those affected by what he called a “genocide.”

“It’s not a war between soldiers and soldiers, it’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” he said.

UNRWA is facing financial strain following Israel’s assertion that 12 of its 13,000 staff members in Gaza were implicated in the October 7 attack.

-Reuters