A query addressed to the State and Foreign Affairs Minister, Paulo Rangel, by the coordinator of the Left Bloc, who was detained by Israeli authorities in October after partaking in a humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza, claims knowledge of the “Holger G. ship, flying the Portuguese flag, suspected of transporting military material to Israel.”
“The ship, owned by the German company Reederei Gerdes, is registered in the Madeira International Ship Registry. It departed from Chennai, India, three days ago, headed for Haifa, Israel, with an expected arrival date of December 31. A stop is also scheduled in Port Said, Egypt, on December 22,” the document states.
The alleged report received by the Left Bloc indicated that this vessel “carries 440 tons of 155-millimeter shells for Israeli military companies Elbit Systems and IMI – Israel Military Industries.”
Mariana Mortágua notes that “this is not the first time a ship with the Portuguese flag is suspected of transporting military material to Israeli companies.”
“In the case of the MV Kathrin, which transported explosive material to Israel, the ship itself ended up requesting the removal of the flag following Portuguese state’s actions, prompted by pressure from the Left Bloc and the Palestine solidarity movement,” the deputy highlights.
The Left Bloc coordinator writes that, “if the transport of weapons by the Holger G. is confirmed, the Portuguese government should withdraw the Portuguese flag from this and other ships facilitating the transport of arms to Israel” and ban any Portuguese-flagged vessels from “engagement, assistance, and support of violence against the Palestinian people and Israel’s illegal occupation.”
The Left Bloc is inquiring about the government’s knowledge of this vessel and whether it will remove the ship’s flag or “persist in making Portugal complicit in genocide.”
