“Campaigns do not justify everything; we know this is somewhat the nature of Nuno Melo, but, come on, he is a minister, he should be more cautious and less prone to outbursts, that’s what I would advise,” recommended Rui Tavares, during a campaign event for the local elections on the 12th, in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto district.
Today, in Ponte de Lima, the president of CDS-PP stated that he will not “contribute further” to what he described as a “performance” by Portuguese activists of the humanitarian flotilla and advised them to focus on the local elections.
Asked about these statements, Rui Tavares, accompanied by the Bloco de Esquerda leader Marisa Matias, remarked that Melo “has had a performance lately that does not meet the standard expected of a Defense Minister, of a Government, given the international situation we are in.”
“Especially because, indeed, if the democracy in the Middle East that he advocates is what we saw from the [Israeli National Security] minister Ben Gvir trying to humiliate people they had illegally detained, it seems to me that Nuno Melo should try to distance himself from those examples and aim to be a type of minister of a European Union country that defends human rights,” he recommended.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited activists at the port of Ashdod and labeled them “terrorists” and “supporters of terrorism,” urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep them “for a few months” in custody, instead of proceeding with their deportation.
Tavares said he was not surprised by the reception the four Portuguese received at Lisbon airport, highlighting that “people who are outraged by human rights violations are in conscience with those who did something to call attention to these violations of human rights.”
The Livre leader warned of the continuation of the conflict in Gaza, also reminding that October 7 will soon be marked and that “the hostages still in the power of Hamas, which is a terrorist organization” must not be forgotten, emphasizing that “those who stand for human rights are always on the side of human rights.”
