Accusations from employees of the Portuguese Mint have prompted a protest by several non-governmental organizations involving around 60 people outside the Lisbon headquarters of the state-owned company. The Portuguese government has not yet responded to these allegations.
Carlos Almeida, vice-president of the Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and Peace in the Middle East (MPPM) and protest organizer alongside the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), criticized the actions of Luís Montenegro’s administration, describing them as “infamous.”
“Perhaps the Portuguese government thinks that after the ceasefire takes effect, we can continue normal relations with the State of Israel, but, I apologize, that’s not possible. The State of Israel is responsible for genocide, ethnic cleansing, and a colonization effort lasting 77 years,” he stated.
Almeida claimed that an Israeli delegation is in Lisbon to discuss business and urged the Portuguese government to clarify whether it is willing to involve Portugal in this genocide, particularly after UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice rulings.
“The resolutions are clear. Any relation with the State of Israel makes the country complicit and liable to be incriminated at the ICJ for the crime of genocide. We must ask if the Portuguese government is assuming responsibility for involving Portugal in the possibility of being accused by the ICJ for complicity with the crime of genocide,” he said.
Isabel Camarinha, chairman of CPPC, accused the government of complicity with Israel, despite recognizing Palestine as a State.
“Now that the Portuguese State has taken that step, it is even more shocking that it continues in complicity with the Israeli government, almost a friendship relationship where the minting of two million coins at Casa da Moeda, a profitable Portuguese state-owned company, is included. We cannot even say that it needs this business. And the Portuguese State is complicit with Israel, which, despite the ceasefire, continues to kill Palestinians,” emphasized Isabel Camarinha.
“It’s incomprehensible how the Portuguese government insists since there was the episode of the Lajes Base and the passage of the F-35s. A Portuguese-flagged ship is loading munitions for Israel. And now we have this situation, even the presence of an official delegation representing the Israeli government,” she added.
Communist João Ferreira, attending the protest as a councilor for the Lisbon City Council, noted that the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has queried the government about the alleged Israeli dealings with Casa da Moeda, without receiving a response.
“There’s a contradiction that makes this situation unsuitable. The Portuguese State belatedly recognized the State of Palestine. From that moment, measures are expected that firstly demand Israel to immediately stop the genocide,” said João Ferreira.
“This business relationship with the State of Israel at this time and involving a Portuguese state-owned company is entirely inappropriate, and it was in this sense that the PCP parliamentary group directed a query” to the government, he added.
Jorge Costa, leader of the Left Bloc (BE) who participated in the protest, accused the Portuguese government of hypocrisy: “Portugal pretends not to see that a genocide is being committed and becomes complicit by treating the State of Israel as a normal partner in international relations. It is not,” he stressed. The protest took place late in the morning with slogans such as “Israel is guilty for the massacred people,” “Palestine will win,” and “In every city, on every corner, we are all Palestine.”
