Brazilian President Lula declared “persona non grata” in Israel after his comments on the war in Gaza. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is a genocide,” Lula told the press from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was attending an African Union summit.
Israel's response was immediate: "I informed President Lulas that he is persona nongrata in Israel until he apologizes and retracts his remarks," Israel Katz, the minister of Foreign Affairs.