Israel announced on Monday that its diplomatic relations with Brazil will be downgraded after Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva refused to accept Israel’s candidate for ambassador, Gali Dagan.

Israel declared Lula persona non grata in response.

“After Brazil refrained, unusually, from responding to Ambassador Dagan’s request for approval, Israel withdrew the request and now relations between the countries are conducted at a lower diplomatic level,” said Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Brazil’s ties with Israel have deteriorated sharply under da Silva, who founded the Brazilian Workers’ Party.

In June, while visiting France, Lula accused Israel of carrying out “a premeditated genocide” and describing international recognition of a Palestinian state as both a “moral and human duty.

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