Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has postponed a visit to Portugal scheduled for early November, Portuguese head of state Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Sunday.
According to a note published on Belém’s official website, “This morning, at his request, the President of the Republic spoke on the phone with his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog.”
“The President of Israel wanted to explain the postponement of the visit to Portugal (which was scheduled for early November) and to inform the Portuguese President of his country’s position on the current situation,” the note said.
According to the same text, the President of Israel appreciated “Portugal’s immediate condemnation of the terrorist attacks.”
“Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke about the Portuguese position, within the framework of international and constitutional values and principles. The relevance of the human lives involved was of course taken into account,” the text adds.
Last week, during his state visit to Belgium, the President of the Republic opined that Portugal “has been clear in its condemnation of the terrorist attack by Hamas” on October 7 on Israeli territory, stating that Israel’s “legitimate right to respond with regarding Hamas’, but separates this Islamist group from the ‘Palestinian people as a whole’ and condemns ‘conducts and conduct which, when directed against innocent civilian victims, are obviously deplorable’.
‘It was clear, as was the European Union, when it said that there are United Nations resolutions about two states [de Israel e da Palestina]. They are standing,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa then added.
The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the raid of armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has been classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States. Israel bombed several of the group’s infrastructures in the Gaza Strip and imposed a total siege. the area with an interruption of the supply of water, fuel and electricity.
The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries in both areas, among military personnel and civilians.
In January 2020, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa traveled to Israel to participate in the 5th World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, even planning an exchange of state visits with his Israeli counterpart at the time, Reuven Rivlin.
On that occasion, the Portuguese Head of State expressed his desire to return to Israel for the inauguration of the Aristides de Sousa Mendes Square and announced that he had invited his Israeli counterpart “to visit Portugal, if possible by the end of the year” 2020. , which did not get off the ground.
Reuven Rivlin was replaced as president of Israel by Isaac Herzog in July 2021.
Source: DN
