BRASILIA: US top diplomat Antony Blinken met President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday, amid a diplomatic spat after the Brazilian leader likened Israel’s war in Gaza to the Nazi genocide during World War Two. In brief remarks in front of reporters as they met at Brasilia’s presidential palace, Lula remarked that US presidential elections are coming up in November.
Blinken responded that politics in the United States were “so polarized” and the election would come down to six or seven battleground states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada.
“There are fewer and fewer undecided voters,” Blinken said. “There’s a battle for a very thin segment of the electorate.”
US officials have said they expected Lula and Secretary of State Blinken to have a robust conversation on issues of global security, including the conflict in Gaza sparked by attacks in southern Israel by Ha-mas militants on Oct. 7.
Israel said on Monday that Lula is not welcome in Israel until he takes back the comments.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that Washington disagreed with Lu-la’s comments, but declined to preview what Blinken would say in the meeting on the issue.
Lula’s comments came after he visited the Middle East last week and just ahead of a meeting of for-eign ministers in Rio de Janeiro as part of Brazil’s presidency of the G20 group of advanced economies.
Washington, which provides Israel with military and diplomatic support, has urged Israel to protect ci-vilians but defended Israel’s right to target Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Ahead of Blinken’s travel to South America, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Af-fairs Brian Nichols told reporters that sharing ideas on the conflict in Gaza would be “crucial to the con-versation” between Lula and Blinken.
The two would also discuss efforts to promote democracy in Venezuela, a US-Brazil partnership on workers’ rights, and cooperation on transitioning to clean energy, Nichols said. –Agencies
