U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday that he had met with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula — but failed to note Lula’s recent smear comparing Israel’s war against Hamas to the Holocaust.
As Breitbart News noted Sunday, Lula compared Israel’s war of self-defense against Hamas terrorists to the Holocaust, with Jews cast in the role of the Nazi perpetrators. Israel declared Lula a persona non grata in response, barring him from the country.
(Notably, Lula defended Russian President Vladimir Putin at the same time over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.)
On Tuesday, the White House — reluctantly, and only after pressure from reporters — said that Lula’s comparison was wrong:
The White House transcript shows that Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre finally criticized Lula’s abuse of the Holocaust:
Q And another one on language. Do you — do you agree with — with Prime Minister Netanyahu that it was inappropriate for Lula of Brazil to compare the plight of the Palestinians with the plight of the Jews in the Holocaust?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I’m not — I’m going to let Lula speak for himself. We’ve been very clear where we stand. We stand, obviously, with Israel being able to defend itself against Hamas and this terrorist organization. That’s why we continue to push for — obviously, one of the reasons we continue to push for the national security supplemental.
What we saw on October 7th was 1,200 — 1,200 people — more than 1,200 people who were killed and more than — obviously, more than 150 people who were — who were taken hostage. And it was a — it was a devastating, tragic day. And we want to continue to make sure that Israel is able to defend itself.
Obviously, we want to also make sure that the all-important humanitarian aid get to — get to Palestinian civilians, who are — who are victims of — who are victims themselves of what Hamas is doing. Let’s not forgot — forget: Hamas is embedding themselves into hospital, into civilian infrastructure, and they’re causing harm to their own people.
And so, we want to make sure we get that — that temporary ceasefire and get that done so we can get that aid in and also make sure that we get those hostages home to their families.
Q And if I could just follow on just what Trevor asked. Is it — just to put a fine point on it, is it appropriate, as terrible as the suffering is in Gaza, to equate it with the — with the Holocaust?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I — I — I’m not going to — this is a very sensitive situation right now — obviously, a very sensitive issue. We understand that as it relates to what folks are seeing in Gaza, it’s incredibly personal.
And what I can say is that we support — obviously, our policy in Israel is — is steadfast. And — and I’m just going to be super mindful.
Obviously, those are two different scenarios — right? — two different situation: what we saw in the Holocaust. And it is — it is two different things that should not be compared.
But obviously, what we’re seeing in — what we’re seeing — the devastation that we’re seeing in — in — with the Palestinian civilians, what Hamas is causing is devastating. It is devastating.
However, Blinken seemed to have no such reservations, restoring Lula to the spotlight after he had earned condemnation.
A State Department readout from the meeting with Lula contained no words of criticism for Lula’s rhetoric about Israel and Gaza.
Brazilians were among the victims of the Hamas terror attack on October 7 that led to Israel’s ongoing military effort in Gaza.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.