“It’s something that seems unusual to me,” said Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, clarifying that the Portuguese government “has nothing to protect nor accompany” regarding the humanitarian flotilla attempting to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip and break the Israeli blockade preventing assistance from entering the Palestinian enclave.
During an informal ministerial meeting under Denmark’s presidency of the Council of the European Union in Copenhagen, Paulo Rangel explained that the initiative stems from civil society, stating “the Portuguese state did not organize this mission, the Portuguese state is not linked to this mission.”
“We are not going to deploy the Portuguese Navy to accompany this flotilla or initiate a war against Israel; I’m not quite sure what is expected,” the minister added, pointing out that the parliamentary immunity of Bloco de Esquerda’s coordinator does not confer diplomatic immunity to Mariana Mortágua.
The organization stated that “the largest solidarity mission in history” with Gaza departs on Sunday from Barcelona to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory and denounce what they termed as “genocide” of the local population by Israel.
“The initiative is certainly commendable, the participants themselves said it has a symbolic nature and that is understandable. The situation of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is truly terrible, and I understand that everyone, in their own way, feels they should use the means they have. But it is a civil society initiative,” Rangel commented.
“It’s a different matter, but this is due to any Portuguese citizen; there is no exceptionality here, not even due to being a member of parliament. […] Of course, the Portuguese state uses consular protection if there is any problem,” he added, assuring that it is guaranteed for the three Portuguese citizens attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
