Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president, has responded to criticism after saying he could “forgive but not forget” the crimes of the Holocaust.
The 64-year-old made the comments while addressing a group of Brazilian evangelical Christians on Thursday.
“We can forgive, but we can’t forget. That’s my phrase,” the president said at the event.
“Those who forget their past are condemned not to have a future.”
There was no immediate response to Mr Bolsonaro’s comments from Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli president who has cultivated ties with the controversial Brazilian leader.
But Israel’s president Reuven Rivlin, whose role is mostly ceremonial, commented on the controversy on Twitter.
“We will always oppose those who deny the truth or those who wish to expunge our memory – not individuals or groups, not party leaders or prime ministers,” he wrote.
“We will never forgive and never forget. The Jewish people will always fight anti-semitism and xenophobia. Political leaders are responsible for shaping the future.
“Historians describe the past and research what happened. Neither one should stray into the territory of the other”.
Following the backlash, Mr Bolsonaro issued a statement through Yossi Shelley, Israel’s ambassador to Brazil.
“To the people of Israel I wrote in the guestbook of the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem: ‘Those who forget their past are doomed to not have a future’,” the Brazilian leader said.
“Therefore, any other interpretation is only in the interest of those who want to push me away from my Jewish friends.
“Forgiveness is something personal, my speech was never meant to be used in a historical context, especially one where millions of innocent people were murdered in a cruel genocide.”
Six million Jewish people were murdered by Germany’s Nazi regime during the Second World War as part of Adolf Hitler’s campaign of extermination.
Mr Bolsonaro had previously raised eyebrows when he falsely claimed the Nazis had been “leftists” while visiting Israel earlier this month.
He made the comments after a tour of the Holocaust memorial Yad Vadshem.
“It is no one’s place to decide who can be forgiven and whether there should be forgiveness for the crimes of the Holocaust,” a spokesperson for the site said on Saturday.
Additional reporting by agencies
