Portugal: Cartoonist blames ‘Jewish propaganda machine’ for condemnation of his drawing

Via Times of Israel:

Antonio Antunes denies his NY Times caricature of Netanyahu as a dog leading blind Trump is anti-Semitic, says it critiques Israel’s ‘criminal conduct in Palestine’

The Portuguese cartoonist behind the New York Times cartoon that depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog has rejected charges of anti-Semitism, calling critics part of the “Jewish propaganda machine.”

Antonio Moreira Antunes, who draws for the Expresso newspaper published in Lisbon, told CNN Wednesday that Jews were not “above criticism.”

The calls of anti-Semitism were “made through the Jewish propaganda machine, which is, anytime there’s criticism it’s because there’s someone anti-Semitic on the other side, and that’s not the case,” Antunes told CNN.

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On Monday, Antunes said the cartoon was “a critique of Israeli policy, which has a criminal conduct in Palestine at the expense of the UN, and not the Jews,” Expresso reported.

“The Star of David is an aid to identify a figure [Netanyahu] that is not very well known in Portugal,” the cartoonist explained to Expresso.

He blamed right-wing figures saying: “The Jewish right doesn’t want to be criticized, and therefore, when criticized they say ‘We are a persecuted people, we suffered a lot… this is anti-Semitism.'”

Antunes claimed he was personally hurt by the Times’ statements of apology since publishing the caricature, saying the paper should have seen his work as “a political issue and not religious.”

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Portuguese UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ ill-advised tweet

Update: UN Secretary-General António Guterres takes down ‘Kite’ tweet

Via Israelly Cool:

Maybe it is just me, but this tweet from UN Secretary-General António Guterres does not represent his finest moment.

Out of all the photos he could have chosen, he goes with one with kites in the background? Yup, #DignityIsPriceless. [Gazans send fire-starting kites into Israel]

Portugal: Left-wing party 'freedom camp' calls for boycott of Israel

A radical left-wing political party in Portugal (Left Bloc - Bloco de Esquerda) is organising a "freedom camp" in Castelo de Bode. One of the workshops will be discussing the boycott of Israel and will "celebrate" Palestine. Israel are the only country targeted in this way by the Bloc.

Via Helena de Matos @ Blasfémias blog

Portugal: MEP made "vile antisemitic expressions"

Note: Ana Gomes is a member of the ruling Portuguese Socialist Party.  No member of the Portuguese Socialist Party voiced disapproval of Ana Gomes's derogatory remarks about Jews and for spreading conspiracy theories about Jewish power.  In the meantime, the government sent the Secretary of State for Tourism Ana Mendes Godinho on a visit to the US "to speak with dozens of Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the American Sephardi Federation and Anti Defamation League, and discussed the long historic connection of Jews to Portugal".  She proudly indicated that Portugal is "looking for Jewish investment"...

Via European Jewish Press (Yossi Lempkowicz):

"It is very worrying and depressing to see such vile antisemitic expressions made at the European Parliament by a member of The Progressives," tweeted Katharina von Schnurbein, ,the EU’s Coordinator on Combating anti-Semitism, after Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes called Jewish organizations "a very perverse lob that and uses intimidation tactics."

"Such expressions are not illegal, but they are antisemitic, and we will speak up against any form of anti-Semitism for the sake of an open society," von Schnurbein added.

Gomes, who is a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) made the incendiary comments on 28 February as she hosted in the European Parliament in Brussels a conference with as speaker Omar Barghouti, co-founder of BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions) movement which calls for a total economic, academic and cultural boycott of the state of Israel. During her introductory statement, the MEP falsely accused the Jewish organizations, which had protested and opposed the invitation of Barghouti in the parliament, of telling "a lot of lies".

When Gomes was asked during the Q&A session if she had perhaps misspoken, she categorically refused to retract her offensive remarks.  

"Who would have thought that 70 years after the Holocaust, a center-left lawmaker in the European Parliament would take a page straight out of “The Protocols of the Elder of Zion," spinning a tale of an allegedly sinister and ‘perverse’ Jewish lobby," said Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Transatlantic Institute, in a statement.  

"The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of anti-Semitism, which the European Parliament itself adopted less than a year ago, considers as anti-Semitic "making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective."

Schwammenthal said Gomes’s statement "is a textbook example of a classic anti-Semitic trope".  

"It is shocking enough that Mrs. Gomes would promote extremist groups like the BDS movement, which ultimately seek the end of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people, and would even go as far as demonizing Jewish civil society organizations. But if Parliament remains silent in the face of her vitriolic attacks on European Jews, it risks damaging the reputation of the entire institution," he added.

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Portuguese MEP says EJC is lying and smearing her

Background: Portuguese MP invites Omar Barghouti, founder of anti-Israel BDS, to EU parliament, Jewish groups protest and Portugal/EU: Another Israel-bashing pro-BDS event at the European Parliament

European Jewish Congress:

Please ask Mr. Barghouti tomorrow what he understands under #RightOfReturn Which Palestinian state is he advocating for, what role does Israel play in that scenario, does he accept borders of 48 & what are his stands on #Hamas? Answers are online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYvpsGd8K4Y …

MEP Ana Gomes (member of ruling Socialist Party, Portugal):

He doesn’t, you’re selectively quoting him out of context. But lots of young Palestinians are calling for it, pushed into that desperate corner by the destructive illegal Israeli occupation which makes unviable a democratic State in Palestine, in their view. 

European Jewish Congress:

Why do you want to discuss this with #Barghouti who explicitly calls for one-state solution?

MEP Ana Gomes (member of ruling Socialist Party, Portugal):

Yr smear campaign won’t work: I’m against #antisemitism & any form of #racism. I’m against those who want to destroy #Israel. That is why we need to discuss @EP impact of Israeli settlements/illegal occupation in #Palestine: that’s what is discrediting & threatening #Israel.

Transatlantic Inst.:

A "perverse lobby" is allegedly spreading lies, to supposedly silence her, says @AnaGomes MEP. We assume this outrageous insult, under @TheProgressives banner, is directed at us & other Jewish organizations protesting her invitation to extremist BDS founder Barghouti.

Portuguese MP invites Omar Barghouti, founder of anti-Israel BDS, to EU parliament, Jewish groups protest

Related:
Portugal/EU: Another Israel-bashing pro-BDS event at the European Parliament

Via European Jewish Press (Yossi Lempkowicz):

Jewish groups protested against the invitation made to Omar Barghouti, leader and co-founded of the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott-Disinvestment-Sanctions) to address a conference next week in the European Parliament in Brussels.

The conference, titled “The Israeli Settlement in Palestine and the European Union” is to be held on February 28. It is organized by Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Omar Barghouti repeatedly compares the state of Israel to the Nazi regime. His BDS movement calls for a total economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel and doesn’t work towards peace.

The President of B’nai B’rith Europe Serge Dahan sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani to express his "deepest concern" regarding the invitation made to Barghouti. In the letter, he asked him to defend European Union’s fundamental values and the security of civil society by not leaving any space to hate speech in the European Parliament.

In the letter Dahan stresses that BDS campaigns against Israel "are obstacles to the Middle East peace process, dismantling existing links between Israeli and Palestinian universities, artists and professionals; it harms cultural bonds and working relations that occur every day between Israelis and Palestinian society."

The Jewish communities of Portugal and Belgium also protested the invitation to Barghouti. Yohan Benizri, president of CCOJB, the umbrella group of French-speaking Jewish communities in Belgium, and Gabriel Steinhardt, president of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, wrote of their disapproval in a letter to President Tajani.

Barghouti’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement addresses "not only the disputed territories but opposes the very existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state in its entirety and in any kind of borders," the communal leaders wrote.

By offering a podium to Barghouti, "the house directly undermines its own policy stance on anti-Semitism," they added, citing how some BDS activists "consistently engage in practices which are considered anti-Semitic according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition on anti-Semitism." The Jewish leaders’ call was co-signed by representatives of the European Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith International, the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute, ELNET and the European Union of Jewish Students.

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More about Ana Gomes' anti-Israel militancy:
Europe: Cancellation of a meeting with Israeli general in the European parliament
Europe: 63 MEPs call for suspension of EU-Israel treaty

Portugal/EU: Another Israel-bashing pro-BDS event at the European Parliament

Portuguese European Parliamentarian Ana Gomes (member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament) is organising yet another Israel-bashing event at the European Parliament on February 28.  Seeing how these people spend their time, efforts and taxpayers' money, no wonder euroscepticism is progressing at great speed in European countries.

Guests are Omar Barghouti, President of BDS - Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, the Foreign Minister of Palestine and Tom Moerenhout, OIES-Saudi Aramco Fellow.

The Transatlantic Institute writes:

Dear @TheProgressives: Has it now become acceptable to host speakers in the European Parliament who promote the total economic, academic & cultural boycott of #Israel & who oppose the 2-state-solution? We hope not.

Portugal: Over 40 photographers launch Israel boycott pledge

While Portugal, one of the poorest countries in W. Europe, is literally burning - since January, 11,537 fire incidents have been recorded, causing the destruction of 166 thousand hectares of forest, 48 thousand more hectares burned than in the same period of last year, much poverty and loss of life), some Portuguese are busy boycotting  and defaming Israel. Huge forest fires in Portugal kill at least 60 and Portugal Forest Fires Worsen, Fed by Poor Choices and Inaction.

Via AURDIP:

On World Photography Day, over 40 Portuguese photographers, teachers of photography and photography students have launched a pledge not to accept professional invitations or financing from the State of Israel and to refuse to collaborate with Israeli cultural institutions complicit in Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid. 

The pledge is the first of its kind (...) The photographers pledge to boycott Israel until it“complies with international law and respects the human rights of Palestinians.”

Among the pledge supporters are João Pina, winner of the 2017 Prémio Estação Imagem Viana do Castelo, Portugal’s only photojournalism award and Nuno Lobito, TV personality and one of the most travelled Portuguese of all times (204 countries, 193 recognised). (...) 

Miguel Carriço, winner of the 2012 Concelho da Bienal de Vila Franca de Xira award, urged fellow photographers to join the call : 

“Having witnessed first-hand the crimes Israel is committing daily against Palestinians, signing up to this initiative has become a natural step. It is fundamental to promote this effort through all means possible.”

(...) Traveller-photographer Nuno Lobito said : 

“It is time for Israel’s brand of apartheid to enjoy the same treatment as South African apartheid and be target of a comprehensive internacional boycott until it respects human rights. Photographers can no longer be silent about the treatment of their Palestinian colleagues living under an indefensible occupation that has lasted for over half a century. Palestinians have called for solidarity through boycotts and this pledge is our practical contribution to their struggle.” 

Signatory José Soudo, a veteran Photography teacher and Historian, commented : 

“The history of photography is full of examples, from the 19th century to today, of photographers who gave their sight to the service of the oppressed and destitute.”

For João Henriques, winner of the 2015 Fnac New Talents Award, “to participate in this solidarity initiative for Palestine is to believe in the power of photography to provide testimony, to create conscience and to have empathy for the Other.”

The full list of signatories has not been published.

Portugal: Israeli ambassador and Jewish leader physically threatened on campus - demonstrators shouted "Hamas! Hamas!"

This happened at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa.  Interestingly, the shocking incident was kept under wraps!

Via Romeu Monteiro:

A Portuguese student told Romeu Monteiro about an event he helped organize at his public college campus in Lisbon in February 2016:

"We were locked inside with the demonstrators on the other side of the door screaming "Hamas! Hamas!" and they would not go away. 

It was anti-Semitic: the topic of the talk we organized was not Israel, it was Portuguese-Jewish heritage. 

The dean forbade police from coming on campus to remove the demonstrators. After a while we had to activate the emergency plan to evacuate. 

6 body guards surrounded the Israeli Ambassador and we also had to protect Esther Mucznik [a prominent Portuguese Jewish leader/speaker]. 

Some people were actually trying to physically attack them, we had to push them. The demonstrators were mostly radical leftist students."

Portuguese UN Chief denounces '50 years of Israeli occupation' on Six Day War anniversary

Mr Guterres is a Portuguese Socialist politician and diplomat.  Portugal has a long history of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.  In 1975,  Portugal was the only Western European country to vote in favour of the infamous United Nations Resolution 3379 (revoked in 1991) which equated Zionism – the self-determination of the Jewish people - with racism. It is ironic that such malevolence came after the Holocaust and in the aftermath of the revolution which enabled the Portuguese people to shed four decades of the harsh dictatorial regime led by Salazar. Having regained freedom and dignity, the progressive regime in place riding on the anti-Zionist tide turned against Jews and their democratic State.  Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe.  "Portugal has the highest emigration rate as a proportion of population in the European Union. More than two million Portuguese people (20% of the population) now live outside the country. Historically Portugal would rank as the nation with the highest unemployment rate in both Europe and EU given their large emigration rates as labor outflows contribute to the weight of unemployment."  Nonetheless it believes it is its duty to condemn Israel.

Via The Jerusalem Post:

Antonio Guterres

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not mince words in his critique of Israel as it marks fifty years since it reunified Jerusalem in the Six Day War. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the five-decades-long Israeli occupation has imposed a "heavy humanitarian and development burden on the Palestinian people" and "fueled recurring cycles of violence and retribution." 

The UN chief expressed his concerns regarding the prospects for regional peace in the Middle East in a statement released Monday, as Israel marks 50 years since it won the Six Day War in which it reunited Jerusalem.   According to Guterres, the perpetuation of the occupation is also sending “an unmistakable message to generations of Palestinians that their dream of statehood is destined to remain just that, a dream; and to Israelis that their desire for peace, security and regional recognition remains unattainable.” (...) 

The secretary-general also said he believes that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will “remove a driver of violent extremism and terrorism in the Middle East and open the doors to cooperation, security, prosperity and human rights for all.” 

In response to the secretary-general's comments, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said, “The attacks on Israel by our neighbors did not begin in 1967 and any attempt at a moral equivalency between killing innocent people and the building of homes is absurd.  Instead of spreading Palestinian misinformation, it would be best if the UN stuck with the facts. 

"It is preposterous to blame terror and violence in the Middle East on the one true democracy in the region.   

"The moment the Palestinian leadership abandons terror, ceases to incite against our people and finally returns to direct negotiations, then real progress can be made towards peace."

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Europe: Manchester bombing highlights UN and Europe hypocrisy on terror

Via Washington Examiner (Michael Rubin):

As thousands of teens and young adults enjoyed an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena, Salman Abedi, a 23-year-old detonated a bomb he had strapped to his body. That he packed the bomb with nails made his goal clear: He not only wanted to kill as many innocents as possible, but maim many times more. 

The Manchester attack is terrorism, plain and simple. There is no justification nor would any self-respecting politician nor diplomat even attempt to offer one. 

But what if someone detonated a nail-packed bomb amidst a crowd of children and other civilians and both the human rights community and European diplomats said it was justified? 

That's exactly what happened 15 years ago when the United Nations Human Rights Commission, operating under the leadership of former Irish President Mary Robinson, did just that against the context of a wave of suicide bombings in Israel. 

In an April 15, 2002 vote, 40 countries — including Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Sweden — argued that Palestinians could engage "all available means, including armed struggle" to establish a Palestinian state. That U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution enshrined the right to conduct suicide bombing in international humanitarian law. After all, many academics, diplomats, and human rights activists argue that the U.N. and its human rights wings set the precedent that becomes the foundation for international humanitarian and human rights law. 

When the Human Rights Commission voted, Israel was weathering a months-long suicide bombing campaign that, at its height, saw multiple bombings of buses, cafes and other public buildings every week. Many European diplomats might have been frustrated with Israel's counter-terrorism policies and unwillingness to accept the European view of the peace process, but to channel that frustration into a resolution that legitimized deliberate targeting and murder of civilians created a precedent which went far beyond the politics of the day.

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Portugal: Opposition to Jewish museum in Lisbon

Via Artuz 7:

Two municipalities in Portugal opened museums about their Jewish heritage amid protests by residents of the capital Lisbon against the ongoing construction of a third and larger one.

In the northeastern city of Braganca, the municipality last week opened a two-story Sephardi Interpretive Center that focuses on the life of Jews under persecution in 15th and 16th centuries. And on Thursday, a smaller Jewish Memorial Center opened in the town of Vila Cova à Coelheira east of the northern city of Porto.

Separately, the Association for Heritage and Population in Alfama organized a news conference Wednesday to express its opposition to the ongoing construction of the four-story Jewish museum being built in the neighborhood.

The building, which will feature a facade with a large Star of David, “breaks with the neighborhood’s tradition,” a spokeswoman for the residents association was quoted by the Public newspaper as saying in an article about the opposition published Wednesday.

The spokeswoman, Maria de Lurdes Pinheiro, also said residents were not consulted about the plan to erect the Jewish Museum of Lisbon in Alfama. Portuguese Jews had lobbied for decades for the construction of a Jewish museum in Lisbon – one of the few capital cities in Western Europe without such an institution -- until an agreement was reached in 2016.

Pinheiro insisted she does not oppose plans to erect a museum about Jews as such.

“Jewish museum, sure. But not in Sao Miguel Square,” she said in reference to the intended area where the museum is being built. She also said the planned museum does not fit the “atmosphere” of the neighborhood, which is one of Lisbon’s oldest and is considered a tourist attraction for its narrow hillside alleyways, with their many boutique restaurants, leading to the Sao Jorge Castle overlooking the Tejo River.

But Ester Mucznik, the former vice president of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, in 2016 said Alfama and Sao Miguel Square were “symbolic” choices for a Jewish museum because of their proximity to Lisbon’s historical Jewish neighborhood.

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Portugal: Restaurant vandalized over chef’s visit to Israel

Portugal has a long history of anti-semitism and of hostility against Israel.  As Lisboa-Jerusalem reported, the memorial to the Jews massacred in Lisbon in 1506 is the most frequently vandalized monument in Lisbon (see pictures below).  In 2007, Jewish tombs were vandalized in a cemetery in Lisbon.

From JTA:

Anti-Israel activists vandalized a restaurant in Portugal because its head chef participated in a food festival in Israel.

The perpetrators, who are believed to be activists for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, on Friday night spilled red paint on the façade of the Cantinho do Avillez restaurant in the northern city of Porto and posted signs on it reading: “Free Palestine,” “Avillez collaborates with Zionist occupation” and “Entrée: A dose of white phosphorus.”

The attack, which is rare in Portugal, followed picketing opposite the restaurant by BDS activists over the participation of chef Jose Avillez along with at least 11 other chefs from renowned dining establishments around the world in the Round Tables festival in Tel Aviv this month, which is sponsored by American Express.

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Belgium: Portuguese man threatens to kill Jews

This story has not been picked up by the Portuguese media!

The Belgian daily DH reported that the Belgian League against Antisemitism received two emails from Marco da Torre, a Portuguese national, threatening to kill Jews.

Both emails were ill-written in French and read:  "I demand that you stop bothering me, if you persist I'll start killing Jews and will write your name with their blood, you son of a bitch".  The other stated: "From now on every time a Jew is killed it's because of animals like you [...] A world without Jews will be a clean and happy world".

Joël Rubinfeld, head of the LBCA indicated that the judicial authorities have been informed of the threats.

E-mails from the same address were sent to several members of the Jewish community.

Joël Rubinfeld first thought that the menaces were issue by someone with a mental disorder.  But Marco da Torre was contacted by phone and he stands by what he wrote.  He also said that the LBCA represents the Jewish community of Belgium. The threats are deliberate and carefully thought out.

Marco da Torre claims to have been swindled out of one million euros by a Belgian-Israeli. He added that he wants to cut him and those of his race in small pieces.  

Da Torre also accused the alleged swindler of having fled to Israel to avoid prosecution where he lives under a false identity and that he keeps taunting him by email.

What are we to make of this?   Marco da Torre says that he has a problem with a Jew and as result he blames the entire Jewish community. 

Joël Rubinfeld considers that he is the archetypal anti-Semite and that he could act on his threats.  The same situation has happened a few times in the past two years in several European countries, with individuals having stabbed Jews because they felt they had a grudge against "all Jews".

Da Torre's Facebook account also contains anti-Semitic material:

Portugal: New UN boss António Guterres is sympathetic to Palestinians

It is worth noting a few facts about Portugal:

- Portugal was the only Western European country to vote in 1975 in favour of the infamous United Nations Resolution 3379 (revoked in 1991) which equated Zionism – the self-determination of the Jewish people - with racism. It is ironic that such malevolence came after the Holocaust and in the aftermath of the revolution which enabled the Portuguese people to shed four decades of a harsh dictatorial regime. Having regained freedom and dignity, the progressive regime in place riding on the anti-Zionist tide turned against Jews and their democratic State.

- On Yasser Arafat’s death in 2004, Socialist President and hero Mário Soares wrote an embarrassing article extolling the virtues of Arafat.  He found Arafat moderate, bright, subtle and pleasant. Soares declared that Arafat had died as “a hero and a martyr”, and accused Israel of practising large-scale terrorism: “His opponents and enemies accuse him of being a terrorist. Israeli leader and former Prime Minister Menahem Begin also stands accused of having been a terrorist during the English [sic] occupation. Let’s not forget that the State of Israel practises terrorism on a large scale.” But the most astonishing revelation was that, as a Latin, he and his team had found in Palestinian Arafat, whom they met in Beirut in 1982, a kindred spirit: “The conversation lasted over three hours. Arafat, almost always gave double meaning replies to our questions so that the Soviet general, who was silent, would not understand. Curiously, this type of conversation unnerved my Nordic comrades. Whereas we, Latins, understood perfectly well the message that Arafat wanted to convey. And it was simple: he wanted to negotiate peace with Israel and was ready to make important concessions.” What seems to have totally escaped Dr. Soares was that Arafat was famous for his double meaning, or rather multi-meaning, talk, which so many like him were only too willing to take at face value.

- Portugal is ruled by a coalition headed by the Socialist party has recently cancelled police force training in Israel over human rights concerns.


From the Jerusalem Post:

Portugal’s former prime minister António Guterres seemed to have won on Wednesday, the Security Council’s backing to become the next UN secretary-general.

Until the end of December 2015, Guterres, who formerly headed the Socialist Party in his country, was the UN high commissioner for refugees.

It is difficult to determine from past statements and actions Guterres’s attitude toward Israel. It is clear that as a UN official who dealt intensively with the issue of refugees, Guterres is sympathetic to Palestinians.

In September 2014, in Cairo, in a speech before the Arab League, Guterres said that “the refugee situations under the UNHCR’s mandate pale in comparison to the desperate situation of the Palestinians.” He went on to say that Palestinian refugees in Syria suffered more than other Syrians because they were “forced to flee for the second time.”

Was he equating Israel’s War of Independence with the Assad regime’s murderous crackdown on opponents? He also said that in times of war between Hamas and Israel, Gazans suffered more than Syria’s refugees because they “could not even flee to seek safety.” Was Guterres exempting Palestinians from their responsibility for allowing Hamas to turn Gaza into an Islamist, terrorist state? It is too early to say. We would like to join Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon in welcoming Guterres’s nomination and hoping the UN under his leadership will “act in the spirit of its founding principles as a fair body able to differentiate between good and evil.”

The selection of a secretary-general presents an opportunity for a reevaluation of the UN’s treatment of Israel.

The incoming secretary-general should take steps to integrate Israel into the UN’s institutions; end the prejudiced approach of the Human Rights Council toward Israel’s purported human rights abuses; and take further steps to normalize relations between the UN and Israel. If Guterres is successful, the UN of the 21st century will more closely resemble the UN that brought the State of Israel into existence nearly 70 years ago.

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Portugal: Government cancels police force training in Israel over human rights concerns

This is how Israel a trusted partner is ditched by the Portuguese government, at a time when Europe is facing all sorts of security threats, terrorism, transnational organised crime etc.  About 50,000 Muslims live in Portugal and the numbers keep growing whereas approximately 600 Jews (the lowest number in Europe).  Israel is constantly criticised in Portugal but Arab countries are viewed favourably.

From the Daily Mail on Line Wires:

Government cedes to pressure from Communists, cancels police force training in Israel over human rights concerns (Diario de Noticias)

From Diário de Notícias (Google translation):

The Ministry of Justice (MJ) ordered the Judicial Police (PJ) to suspend participation in the European project to train inspectors in interrogation techniques of transnational organized crime suspects. This decision came following several protests by leftist parties and organizations, mainly the Portuguese Communist Party, because the technical coordination was from Israel, whose security forces "violate human rights."

The Ministry of Justice refutes any "political motivation" in the decision. Both in the PJ, as in other forces and security services, the news, published by Jornal de Negócios, caused high concern, due to the fact that Israel has been for many years a training partner at different levels of the Portuguese police and even the secret police, as well as a supplier of almost all the telephone surveillance and interceptions technology used by the PJ.

read more (in Portuguese) 

More on the century-old antagonism against Jews and now against Israel: Portugal, the Jews and Israel - a difficult relationship.

Portugal: Israeli tourists on their guard in Europe

Lisbon airport (photo by Romeu Monteiro)

Romeu Monteiro, a long-standing and outstanding Portuguese pro-Israel militant, wrote this from Lisbon (20 July 2016):

This morning there were a few Israeli guys on the subway and I was very excited thinking I could show off a little bit of my Hebrew.

But I ended up not interacting with them, because every time I approach Israelis in Portugal and ask them if they are from Israel they look surprised, like they were uncovered and for a few seconds they look like they are thinking "Who is this guy? Does he want to murder us?" before they reply...

It's a little too strange, it always seems like I'm scaring them, and I feel like a creep.

France: Cartoonist Zeon wins Iranian Holocaust-denial contest

French cartoonist Zeon is the winner of Iran's 2nd International Holocaust cartoon contest in the 'cartoon' category.  Other Europeans won special mentions in both the cartoon  and caricature categories.


Via Teheran Times:

Speaking at the ceremony, the secretary of the competition, Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai said, “One of the subjects we asked cartoonists to focus on was why the Western countries arrest any scholar who doubts the Holocaust while they put no limit on freedom of speech in other categories.”

“The other subject was why Palestinians should pay for the Holocaust… we are concerned about the modern Holocaust that is being sought by the Zionist regime, which is known as a child killer government,” he added.

Zeon (France, first prize)

Misha (Russia, special prize)

Luc Descheemaeker (Belgium , special prize)

Hicabi Demirci (Turkey, special prize)

Santiagu (Portugal, special prize)

Portugal: Parliament voted in favour of Nakba solidarity motion

Portugal has been for many years in the grip of an economic crisis which has resulted in massive poverty (one million elderly people survive on €280 per month).and more than two million Portuguese have left the country. But politicians seem to get their priorities right: Israel-bashing.

Pro-Israel activist Romeu Monteiro @ Facebook:

I just saw a member of the Portuguese Parliament from the Socialist Party point out in parliamentary debate that Israel was invaded by all its neighboring countries in 1948 and that people on both sides were harmed, Not just Palestinians.

Still his party voted in favor of the Nakba solidarity motion from the radical left that was being discussed. Even the right-wing parties abstained instead of voting against it.

Shameful.

Portugal: Visiting professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem calls for economic sanctions against Israel

via Romeu Monteiro Facebook

Dear friends in Israel,

Miguel Vale de Almeida is a Portuguese academic who has been a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and was also a member of the Portuguese Parliament. He just posted publicly expressing his support for international economic sanctions against Israel.

*sarcasm on* So please, make sure to keep inviting him to visit universities you pay with your own taxes. *sarcasm off *