President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil drew Israel’s ire on Saturday for saying the crimes of the Holocaust are forgivable.

Mr. Bolsonaro made the comments Thursday night at a meeting with evangelical pastors in Rio de Janeiro. He was talking about his visit to the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem earlier this month.

“We can forgive. But we cannot forget,” he said of the Holocaust, adding that action was needed to ensure its horrors were not repeated. “Those who forget the past are condemned to not have a future,” he added.

President Reuven Rivlin of Israel and Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial criticized the right-wing Brazilian leader, who has come under fire before for his controversial statements on other subjects.