How did you view UN Secretary General António Guterres’ statements that angered Israel?
I believe that the Secretary General’s statements were unfortunate and that the main negative impact is the reduction of the United Nations’ room for maneuver in the near future in everything related to this war. It is understandable that the UN has humanitarian concerns, but the content of that statement, which frames and contextualises it with the terror and barbarism witnessed on October 7, ultimately has the effect of narrowing the UN’s space for action . It would be better if the UN Secretary General had not uttered that sentence.
The Assembly of the Republic has already approved votes of condolence and condemnation of the Hamas attack. It is enough?
On October 19, Parliament was able to adopt in plenary by an overwhelming majority a statement of condolence for the victims of the terrorist attacks of October 7, expressing its solidarity with the State of Israel, recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself under international law law and international humanitarian issues. law and, of course, call for the release of all hostages kidnapped by Hamas. This vote also expressed the humanitarian concerns that we all have when we talk about the civilian population, and went even further in calling for, once this war is over, to return to the political discussion of what the consensual solution is in Portugal, which is the two-state solution. The Portuguese Parliament has had a voice and been present. Each parliamentary group has expressed its positions on the war, as well as on issues already related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What we are seeing is a war between Israel and Hamas, and Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people, cannot represent them and should not allow it to do so.
Are there more votes planned in Parliament?
What we can hope is that the situation will be monitored and that, if there are any new elements, we will consider whether it makes sense for the Portugal-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group to come back into action. One comment, yesterday [quarta-feira] we met our fellow group in the Knesset for a working meeting. That is why we are constantly working to monitor the situation.
Finally, how do you evaluate the Portuguese government’s decision to expedite nationality for Israelis taken hostage by Hamas and who had already made progress in this process?
It was a positive decision, I think it also shows the commitment and the desire that the Portuguese government has to do everything possible and to exert all possible pressure to release the hostages. I don’t want to make any inaccuracies, but I think some of these people were in the final stages of the process, so I think it was positive from the government.
Source: DN
