Israel downgrades relations with Brazil after country withdraws from IHRA, rejects new Israeli ambassador

The Foreign Ministry announced Monday that it is downgrading ties with Brazil after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva refused to accept the credentials of Israel’s nominee for ambassador. 

“After Brazil, unusually, refrained from replying to Ambassador [Gali] Dagan’s request for agrément, Israel withdrew the request, and relations between the countries are now being conducted at a lower diplomatic level,” the Foreign Ministry said in its statement Monday. 

The ministry also referred to the the “critical and hostile line that Brazil has displayed toward Israel” since Lula’s return to the office of president. 

Last year, the Brazilian president accused Israel of conducting a genocide in Gaza, and compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to Nazi Germany. The country also formerly recalled its ambassador to Israel after then Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned Ambassador Frederico Meyer to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem for a reprimand. 

In July, Brazil officially withdrew from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and announced it would join the case brought by South Africa in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide. 

Israel Katz, now defense mInister, posted a note in Portuguese to 𝕏, calling Brazilian President Lula a puppet of Iran. 

“When the President of Brazil, Lula, disrespected the memory of the Holocaust during my tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I declared him persona non grata in Israel until he apologized,” Katz wrote on 𝕏. 

Quando o presidente do Brasil, Lula @LulaOficial, desrespeitou a memória do Holocausto durante meu mandato como Ministro das Relações Exteriores, declarei-o persona non grata em Israel até que pedisse desculpas.
Agora ele revelou sua verdadeira face como antissemita declarado e… pic.twitter.com/O0rzmTYqPA

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 26, 2025

“Now he has revealed his true face as a declared antisemite and supporter of Hamas by withdrawing Brazil from the IHRA – the international body created to combat antisemitism and hatred against Israel – placing the country alongside regimes like Iran, which openly denies the Holocaust and threatens to destroy the State of Israel,” Katz continued, showing a picture of President Lula looking like a marionette with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pulling the strings. 

“As Israel's Minister of Defense, I affirm: we will know how to defend ourselves against the axis of evil of radical Islamism, even without the help of Lula and his allies,” Katz said. “Shame on the wonderful Brazilian people and the many friends of Israel in Brazil that this is their president. Better days will still come for the relationship between our countries.” 

Under the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, Israel enjoyed good diplomatic relations with Brazil, and Bolsonaro even visited the Jewish state, getting baptized in the Jordan River in 2016.