“O Livre has a historical stance on this issue that is absolutely coherent, clear, and evident to everyone from the beginning. Sometimes we were criticized for welcoming families of hostages. Other times we were criticized by those who want to amalgamate us with others. The only thing I say is, if you really can’t stop lying, lie with less dishonest lies, because these don’t stick,” declared Rui Tavares.
The Livre leader was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a campaign event in Barcelos, Braga district, where he was questioned about the two years since the Hamas attack in Israel and the criticisms the Liberal Initiative has directed at his party on this matter.
This morning, on the social network X, IL deputy Mário Amorim Lopes accused Livre and BE of supporting demonstrations “to glorify terrorists.” In that post, the deputy attached a photograph of a poster related to a protest organized today in Lisbon, defending that organizations such as Hamas are “anti-colonial resistance movements,” challenging left-wing parties to distance themselves from the event.
Rui Tavares wanted “to start with the victims” and classified the October 7 attack as “heinous,” from which “hostages are still incarcerated and bodies of hostages have yet to be returned.”
The deputy highlighted that in October 2023, in his first statement in parliament on the subject, “applauded by IL deputies, by the way,” he emphasized that Hamas was a terrorist organization and that Livre immediately submitted a resolution project—a non-legislative initiative—on the issue.
“On October 11, 2023, Livre submitted a resolution project, of which we are still very proud because it states that alertness was necessary. Even though the offensive on Gaza had not yet started, we knew that the practice of Netanyahu and his allies was to react disproportionately, and we alerted to the possibility of new and increased casualties in Gaza,” he stressed.
In November of the same year, he continued, the party presented a new resolution project for the recognition of Palestinian independence, a position recently adopted by the Portuguese state.
Tavares considered that Mário Amorim Lopes’s statements “are unworthy of someone who is a representative of the people and should be above that.”
During this election campaign, Livre and IL have exchanged some accusations about the Middle East conflict. IL leader Mariana Leitão held Livre and BE accountable for encouraging “acts of vandalism” following a pro-Palestinian protest in Lisbon, and Tavares demanded an apology, which did not occur, with the liberal returning that the Livre deputy has “a hypocritical discourse.”
