Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israel's ambassador to Switzerland to return home for consultations, in protest of Bern's decision to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a conference Monday in Geneva.

Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have decided to recall Ambassador Ilan Elgar "immediately," a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said.

The move followed a meeting between Swiss President Hans Rudolf Mertz and Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust and called for Israel's elimination. (dpa)