Portuguese MPs condemn Israel’s treatment of UN’s Guterres

The Portuguese parliament on Wednesday condemned the Israeli government for declaring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a fellow Portuguese, 'persona non grata'.

Portugal's Socialist (PS), Social Democrat (PSD) and Left Bloc (BE) Parties voted in favour, while the right-wing Chega and the Liberal Initiative voted against.

PS and BE tabled votes of condemnation in the Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities, which ended up agreeing on a single document stating that "Parliament strongly condemns and rejects the statements and the decision announced by Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, to declare UN Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata and to ban him from entering Israeli territory".

Socialist MP Paulo Pisco defended the need to "preserve the only multilateral institution that can put some ethics into this uncontrolled world", considering that Guterres "has defended international law, calling for an end to the humanitarian drama".

For the Left Bloc, Marisa Matias declared solidarity with the former Portuguese prime minister, who has maintained a ‘position for peace’ and ‘courage’.

For the PSD, Bruno Ventura said he agreed with the condemnation of the Israeli diplomatic chief's decision and proposed to include an appeal to Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reconsider, which the PS and BE proposed to do in a separate vote.

On 2 October, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that he had declared António Guterres persona non grata in the country, criticising him for failing to condemn Iran's mass attack on Israel the night before.

"Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil. We are dealing with an anti-Israel secretary-general who supports terrorists, rapists and murderers," Katz said in a statement.

Guterres responded by saying that he had implicitly condemned the Iranian regime in a statement released the night before, in which he said on the social network X that he condemned "the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East" and called for calm but without any specific reference to Tehran or the attack.

For the Portuguese government, Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel urged Israel to "reconsider" its decision to declare the UN Secretary-General persona non grata, which he "deeply regretted", and supported  Guterres' "indispensable mission" to guarantee dialogue and peace.

(Joana Haderer – edited by Pedro Sousa Carvalho | Lusa.pt)