Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed on Sunday Brazilian President Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's comparison of the situation in the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust as "crossing a red line."
"The words of the president of Brazil are shameful and alarming," Netanyahu's statement read. "This is about trivializing the Holocaust and trying to harm the Jewish people and Israel's right to defend itself. [...] Israel fights for its defense and securing its future until complete victory and it does so while upholding international law."
Netanyahu's comments came after Lula stated that "what's happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn't happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when [Third Reich leader Adolf] Hitler decided to kill the Jews." Israeli Foreign Ministry Israel Katz described his words as "shameful" and "serious," and decided to summon Brazilian envoy in the country Gerson Menandro Garcia de Freitas.