Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, which Bolsonaro visited during his trip to Israel last month, has released a statement saying no one can decide if it is possible to forgive the crimes of the Holocaust.

BRAZILIA—Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro  claimed, in a letter to Israel’s ambassador to Brazil he did not meant to use the term ‘’forgiveness’’ for the Holocaust and said his comments were misunderstood.

Bolsonaro drew criticism in Israel after  saying that war crimes committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust “can be forgiven, but not forgotten.” He said  interested parties are attempting to distance him from hi Jewish friends

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, which Bolsonaro visited during his trip to Israel last month, released a statement saying no one can decide if it is possible to forgive the crimes of the Holocaust.

Israeli president Reuven Rivlin also reacted by posting on twitter: ‘’We will never give a hand to those who deny the truth or try to cause it to be forgotten’’ he said. ‘’Not by individuals, nor organizations, not by head of parties, nor by heads of states. No one will enjoin the forgiveness of the Jewish people, and no interest will buy it.’’

The Israeli ambassador, Yossi Shelly, said Bolsonaro’s latest words ‘’made clear his complete repudiation of the greatest genocide in history, which was the Holocaust,” “At no point in his speech did the president show disrespect or indifference to Jewish suffering,” he said.