NGOs and political parties are outraged today by claims that ‘Casa da Moeda’, the Portuguese Mint, is to start manufacturing coins for Israel.
According to employees of Casa da Moeda, the Mint is poised to seal a deal to produce two million coins for the Middle Eastern country.
Critics of the regime blame Portugal for ‘continuing to be complicit with Israel’.
Various people demonstrated this morning outside Casa da Moeda in Lisbon.
Speaking to Lusa, the vice-president of the Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and Peace in the Middle East (MPPM), Carlos Almeida, who organised the protest along with the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), described the actions of Luís Montenegro’s government as “an outrage”
“Perhaps the Portuguese government thinks that after the ceasefire comes into force, we can continue to relate normally to the state of Israel, but, I’m sorry, that is not possible.
“The state of Israel is responsible for genocide, ethnic cleansing and colonisation that has been going on for 77 years,” he said.
Carlos Almeida claimed that an Israeli delegation is coming to Lisbon to discuss the minting arrangements.
He stressed that the Portuguese government must answer whether “it is willing to compromise Portugal in this genocide”, especially after resolutions by the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“(The resolutions) are very clear. Any relationship with the state of Israel makes the country an accomplice and liable to be prosecuted in the ICJ for the crime of genocide.
“The question we have to ask is whether the Portuguese government assumes responsibility for implicating Portugal in the possibility of being accused by the ICJ of complicity in the crime of genocide,” he stressed.
The president of the CPPC’s National Directorate, Isabel Camarinha, accused the government of colluding with Israel, despite having recognised Palestine as a state.
“Now that the Portuguese state has taken this step, it is even more shocking that it continues to collude with the Israeli government, in what are almost friendly relations, including the minting of two million coins at the Casa da Moeda, a Portuguese public company that makes millions in profits. We cannot even say that it needs this business. And the Portuguese state is colluding with Israel, which, even with the ceasefire, continues to kill Palestinians,” she said.
“It is incomprehensible how the Portuguese government can insist on this, given the episode of Lajes (Air) Base and the passage of the F-35s. There is a ship flying the Portuguese flag that is carrying ammunition to Israel. And now we have this situation – even the presence of an official delegation representing the Israeli government,” Camarinha added.
Communist João Ferreira, present at the protest in his capacity as a councillor for Lisbon City Council (CML), stated that the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has submitted a question to the Portuguese government seeking explanations about the alleged Israeli deal with Casa da Moeda. This far it has not been answered.
“There is a contradiction that makes this situation inappropriate. The Portuguese state was slow to recognise the state of Palestine. From that moment on, measures are expected in line with a demand, first and foremost, that Israel immediately stop the genocide,” he said.
“This commercial relationship with the state of Israel at this time, and a Portuguese public company, seems completely inappropriate, and it was in this sense that the PCP parliamentary group addressed a question” to the government, he explained.
Left Bloc (BE) leader, Jorge Costa, also took part in the protest. He accused the government of cynicism: “Portugal pretends not to see that genocide is being committed and becomes an accomplice by treating the state of Israel as if it were a normal partner in international relations. It is not,” he said.
The protest took place at the end of the morning with slogans such as “Israel is guilty of the massacred people”, “Palestine will win” and “In every city, on every corner, we are all Palestine”.
Source: Lusa
