Skip next section 'Frank exchange' between Blinken and Lula after Brazilian leader's Holocaust comments
February 21, 2024

'Frank exchange' between Blinken and Lula after Brazilian leader's Holocaust comments

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and told him that he "disagrees" with recent remarks made by the Brazilian leader about the conflict in Gaza. 

A State Department official told reporters the pair had a "frank exchange" during a long meeting at the presidential palace in Brasilia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, shake hands with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, during a meeting at Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024.
The pair met after Israel declared Lula 'persona non grata' following his remarks about Gaza, the Holocaust and Adolf HitlerImage: Eraldo Peres/AP Photo/picture alliance

Over the weekend, Lula prompted outrage in Israel, by accusing it of "genocide" in Gaza and also claiming that its military campaign after Hamas' October 7 attack was akin to Adolf Hitler's mass extermination of an estimated 6 million Jews during World War II.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly said he had crossed a "red line," and Israel declared the Brazilian leader was not welcome there. 

The Brazilian president's office, meanwhile, offered a different summary of Lula's talks with the top US diplomat ahead of a G20 foreign ministers' meeting.

"President Lula reaffirmed his wish for peace and an end to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip," the Brazilian government said. "Both agreed on the need for the creation of a Palestinian state."

Lula has also faced criticism from the US and Ukraine for his recent comments on that conflict. 

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