Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:

It was shameful and shocking that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted out a picture yesterday showing Blinken standing hand-in-hand and smiling together with Brazilian President Lula (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) – just three days after Lula blood libeled Israel. Lula obscenely equated Hitler’s genocide of six million helpless, unarmed Jewish civilians to Israel’s war to recover Israeli hostages and prevent the well-equipped Hamas terror organization from carrying out Hamas’ stated plans to “again and again” massacre, wound, torture and kidnap thousands of Israelis.

Lula’s libels have been widely condemned, and made him persona non grata in Israel. Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs, called out U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday for “rushing to embrace a Holocaust-denying antisemite” by meeting with Brazilian president Lula.

Yet, sickeningly and outrageously, in the text of his tweet, Blinken praised blood libeler Lula for “advancing human rights.” Blinken’s embrace of Lula is either tone-deaf or yet another stab in the heart of our ally Israel. Both Blinken and Lula need to apologize. This is even more shocking since Blinken’s stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was a famous Holocaust survivor. Dr. Pisar is rolling over in his grave.