<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Brazil withdrew its ambassador to Israel on Wednesday after months of tensions between the two countries over the war in Gaza, the latest repercussion from a South American nation over Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian territory.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The move was announced in Brazil’s official gazette.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel’s foreign ministry said no official message has yet been received from the Brazilian government on the matter. However, following the media reports, the Brazilian chargé d’affaires was summoned to appear at the ministry on Thursday for a meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been a frequent critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which he compared to the Holocaust earlier this year. That led Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz to summon the Brazilian ambassador, Frederico Meyer, to the national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem for a public reprimand.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the time, Lula called Meyer home. However, Wednesday’s action represented an escalation and a diplomatic downgrade, with the Brazilian Embassy in Israel still in place but without an ambassador in the post. - AP&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>