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 *

Portugal journalists: Slain Palestinian terrorists are not ‘murdered’

A bit of common sense and good journalistic practice from Portugal.

The Times of Israel reports:

Henrique Cymerman

The union of Portuguese journalists has rejected a complaint by the Palestinian Authority about a reporter’s use of the word “murder” to describe only victims of terrorist attacks and not their perpetrators.

Portugal’s Syndicate of Journalists published its decision last week on a complaint that Hikmat Ajjuri, the Palestinian Authority’s envoy to Portugal, filed in December against Henrique Cymerman, the Israel reporter for Portugal’s Independent Communication Company, or SIC. 

The December 13 report by Cymerman focused on incitement in the Palestinian Authority “to kill Jews,” as Cymerman, who is Jewish, described it. In the report, Cymerman said that many of the perpetrators of attacks against Israelis regard their actions as part of a holy war. He also interviewed people who said it was in reaction to the Israeli occupation.

The item had an on-screen caption that read “22 Israelis were murdered and roughly 100 Palestinian assailants were killed.”

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Portugal: Identified as the enemy, or, why there are so few Jews in Portugal

German contemporary engraving depicting the 1506 massacre in Lisbon.

Richard Zimler:

At present, only a few hundred Jews live in Portugal, with small communities in Lisbon, Porto and a little town in the northeast mountains, Belmonte. In the 15th Century, however, tens of thousands of Jews made their homes there, and they constituted a significant minority in even the most isolated cities and towns.    What happened to them?

Portugal’s Jewish communities were destroyed during a unique period in the nation’s history that begins in the year 1492 and ends in 1536.

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Although Richard Zimler's article is about the past, it is relevant to the present because very few Jews live in Portugal and antisemitism is still very much alive.  By way of example, José Saramago, the 1998 recipient of Nobel prize winner, said of Jews:

"What is happening in Palestine is a crime we can put on the same plain as what happened at Auschwitz ... A sense of impunity characterises the Israeli people and its army. They have turned into rentiers of the Holocaust."

“Contaminated by the monstrous and rooted ‘certitude’ that in this catastrophic and absurd world there exists a people chosen by God … the Jews endlessly scratch their own wound to keep it bleeding, to make it incurable, and they show it to the world as if it were a banner."

"The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people." More here.

Europe/Portugal: Anti-Semitism in Europe: ‘The devil that never dies’

RNS reports:

Saramago receiving the
Nobel prize

The paragraph, read out loud by one of the world’s foremost scholars of the Holocaust, chilled the audience.

“Contaminated by the monstrous and rooted ‘certitude’ that in this catastrophic and absurd world there exists a people chosen by God … the Jews endlessly scratch their own wound to keep it bleeding, to make it incurable, and they show it to the world as if it were a banner,” read Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, at a Georgetown University conference Monday (Feb. 29) on anti-Semitism in Europe.

“Israel seizes hold of the terrible words of God in Deuteronomy: ‘Vengeance is mine, and I will be repaid,'” he continued. “Israel in short is a racist state by virtue of Judaism’s monstrous doctrines, racist not just against the Palestinians but against the entire world.”

Goldhagen stopped reading.

“Now, if I told you that these were the words of a Hamas leader, or any number of Middle Eastern political officials, or movement leaders, you wouldn’t be very surprised,” he said. “But these were the words of [Portuguese] Jose Saramago, the Nobel Prize-winning author, as published in 2002 in El Pais, the paper of record of Spain.”

This diatribe against the Jews, printed in one of Europe’s leading mainstream newspapers, came before the most recent spike in anti-Semitism across the continent, the subject of the daylong conference sponsored by Georgetown University’s new Center for Jewish Civilization.

Goldhagen, a former Harvard University professor, put the subject of the conference in a global context, contrasting the unlikelihood of another Holocaust in Europe to the frequent calls to violence against Jews in Arab lands. He calls anti-Semitism “the devil that never dies” — it morphs over the millennia, taking different forms in different cultures. One of anti-Semitism’s consistent traits, he said, is the idea that the world’s Jews — 0.2 percent of the world’s population — represent an evil threat.

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Portugal: Jewish community fearful of anti-Semitism following influx Middle East refugees

King Manuel I decreed that all Jews had
to convert or leave Portugal (1496).

Correio da Manhã reported that hundreds of Jews have applied for Portuguese nationality under a 2013 law granting citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews, who were expelled 500 years ago.

The vast majority -70%-  come from Turkey.

The newspaper contacted the Oporto Jewish community and was told they they would not reveal the exact number of applicants because the massive influx of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere who have come to Europe has created hostile reactions and comments and they do not want the Jews to be victims yet again.

It is not clear from the article what is making the Jewish community so apprehensive.  Is it the massive arrival of Muslims refugees who, for many, hold anti-Semitic views, or of the Portuguese population itself or of a conflation of both?  Will history repeat itself?  No it will not because Israel exists.

Portugal: BDS philistines target the Jerusalem Quartet in Lisbon

Slipped Disc reported in November 2015:

The Israel boycott lobby have turned again on the Jerusalem Quartet, trying to block their next performance at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.

The BDS, whose supporters have previously disrupted their London recitals, state – absurdly – that the quartet are cultural ambassadors of Israel. They are nothing of the sort, just four outstanding musicians trying to play Beethoven and Schubert. Those who try to stop them are philistines. 

And they did it yesterday as reported by the Portuguese media:

Portuguese pro-Palestinian activists from BDS interrupted a concert by the Israeli group Jerusalem Quartet at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. They shouted anti-Israel slogans "Palestine will win", "Boycott Israel" and accused the musicians of collaborating with the Israeli state that continues "the colonization of the territory of Palestine," "steals land", "destroys homes and infrastructure" and carries out the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land.

Obviously none of these people will ever voice opposition to the friendly relations Portugal has with countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey etc...   

There are about 1,000 Jews living in Portugal... the lowest rate in Europe!  But the Portuguese are "high" on anti-Israel/anti-Jew sentiment.

Please watch the video:

Portugal: Daily boasts Porto FC Muslim players scored 2 goals against Maccabi Tel Aviv

Via RM. A Portuguese newspaper (Público) points out that Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 2-0 to Porto FC with both goals being scored by Muslims. Headline calls the scorers "Muslim alliance".

Público belongs to the "capitalistic" group Sonae...  The newspaper gleefully and proudly boasts that the three Muslim players "Muslim Alliance" (headline) defeated 'you know who' from Israel.  Portugal has virtually no Jews - around 1.000. 

Portugal: For media Israelis are not murdered - they just end up dying!

Journalist Helena Matos commented @ the  influencial Portuguese political blog Blasfémias on the way the murder of two Jews was reported by Sapo 24/Lusa.

The news agency indicated that the Israeli police had shot and killed a Palestinian who was carrying a knife and a firearm, after he had attacked four Israelis, two of which eventually died.  Excellent Pallywood style.

This is what happened: A Palestinian terrorist murdered two Jewish men and wounded a mother and son in the Old City of Jerusalem in a Saturday stabbing and shooting spree, before he was shot dead by police. Read more @ J Post.

Portugal: Hiding Jewish identity for safety reasons

A Portuguese Jew writes on Facebook: 

"I no longer where my Magen-David because I'm afraid for anyone to know my identity." 

The first phrase " It's a real shame that not even in our homeland we can be openly Jewish."  refers to the attack in Israel of a young Jewish boy by Muslims.

Portugal: ‘Portuguese Alfred Dreyfus’ first persecuted, now discriminated

Via Times of Israel:

The Jewish Community of Porto in northern Portugal quashed a bill designed to reinstate an army captain who had been fired and libeled because of his outreach to descendants of Jews.

The lawmakers who submitted the bill to rehabilitate Arthur Carlos Barros Basto withdrew it earlier this month ahead of a vote at the National Assembly after the Jewish community complained that it was discriminatory.

The bill failed to bring closure to Barro Basto’s case, the community and some of his descendants argued, because it offered none of the financial compensation given to non-Jewish officers who had been reinstated following persecution by the pro-fascist dictatorship of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

“Contrary to the general law of the land, applicable to all cases of reinstatement,” the community wrote recently to parliament members, ”this special law deplorably and scandalously excludes a Jew and his family.”  more

Germany: German girl doesn't like Israel - how to respond

Romeo Monteiro, a brilliant Portuguese Israel-defender, reports:

I was talking to a German girl about Israel when she hinted she did not like Israel that much.

German girl: 'I actually have a Palestinian friend who was bombed so...'

Romeu: 'Your family was probably bombed too, right?'

German girl: 'My family?'

Romeu: 'Yes, your grandparents and their parents...'

German girl: 'Yes...'

Romeu: 'So that doesn't mean the bombing was unjustified.'

German girl: '...'

Read about Romeo: Why I no longer hate Israel - Op-ed: Portuguese blogger explains why he changed his views, fell in love with Israel.

With full European support, UNHRC backs Israel-bashing Gaza report

No wonder so many European citizens do not trust their politicians.

The Times of Israel reports:
 
EU nations lament lack of Hamas criticism but approve motion anyway; only US votes against resolution which Jerusalem calls an ‘anti-Israeli manifesto’

he UN Human Rights Council voted in favor of a resolution on Friday backing the Gaza Conflict Commission of Inquiry, which last week issued a report charging that Israel and Hamas may have committed war crimes during Operation Protective Edge last summer.

Forty-one of the 47 UNHRC council members voted in favor of the resolution, including the eight sitting European Union members: France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Latvia and Estonia. 

Only the US, which last week slammed the report as biased, voted against. Israeli officials thanked the US for its “principled” position.

The vote in Geneva coincided with the explosion of a rocket in southern Israel.

The resolution made no mention of Hamas or of its role in the conflict, though it stressed that all those responsible for human rights violations must be held to account and effective remedies should be given to all victims, including reparations.  It also recommends the UN General Assembly take on the matter “until it is satisfied that appropriate action” is taken to implement the report’s recommendations.

The decision by the council has no binding effect, but adds to pressure for war crimes prosecutions before the International Criminal Court.  More.

Portugal: Boycott Israel graffiti in Porto

Portugal loves Israel reports what has become a very European obsession:

3 pictures from 3 different places in Porto, Portugal.

More graffiti...

Portugal: Synagogues are hiding religious services times for fear of terrorist attacks

Lisbon synagogue which can not be seen from the street

Correio da Manhã reports that timetable for religious services in Portuguese synagogues are not being disclosed for fear of terrorist attacks.  Visiting tourists have to make contact in advance to be able to attend.  There are around 1,000 Jews in Portugal.

On Friday, a car parked in front of the Lisbon synagogue led the police to search for explosives.

Portugal: Jew-hating photographer suspected of criminal activities

Nuno Lobito is a Portuguese photographer and self-styled "traveller of the world". He works for the RTP, the official state TV channel, in spite of saying atrocious things about the Jews. Asked what country he most disliked, Lobito has no hesitation: 

"I don't like Israel. It's a big house with few windows.  Israelis are extremely arrogant and are not at all my type of people,  I don't identify in the least with any of them."

His disgust for the Jewish people of Israel, who "treated him like a dog" is overwhelming - he liked all the 189 countries he visited, except one:

"But there is a country to which I shall never return which is Israel. There I encountered very arrogant people."  

Amigo de Israel  highlights that Lobito also boasted that when he travelled through Lebanon he wore a pro-Hezbollah T-shirt.

This is what features on his Facebook. He reacted to this comment: "I wonder if the Nazis were right after all.  These people are really bad or are they taking revenge for the past?  They are guilty from the moment they target children and babies..." Lobito replied: "All points to the fact they they are doing what was done to them in the past.  How nasty.  What a really nasty people, but for me it's not a surprise.  Jews were always like that.  Worse than all peoples.  All they want is to create colonies that's why this war makes sense to them.  Disgust is what I feel for the Jewish people.  I can't even kill a fly but they can kill 300 children."

But it now turns out that the  Nuno Lobito, a self-styled disciple of the Dalai Lama, is not quite the humanist he pretends to be.  Portugal News on Line has the story:  Nuno Lobito is one of the three suspected of being involved in serious crimes mentioned in the article- the third one being rapper Juve Leo Nuno Vieira Mendes, aka Mustafá Malabá:

Former Polícia Judiciária (PJ) detective and ex-Sporting Vice President Paulo Pereira Cristovão was this week arrested on a number of criminal charges, which include kidnapping and robbery. He gained widespread prominence after authoring a book, Estrela da Madeleine (Madeleine’s Star) in which he analyses the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from her holiday apartment almost eight years ago.

Paulo Pereira Cristovão was arrested this week as his former colleagues drew nearer to concluding an investigation initiated in July 2014 related to a series of criminal charges. Up until this week, investigations had resulted in the arrest of 12 people, including three PSP police officers.

Cristovão, also a former president of the Portuguese Association for Missing Children, has been linked to these 12 suspects and is said to have worked on “identifying potential victims who would then be robbed inside their homes. These robberies would be undertaken by police officers simulating house searches, armed with forged legal warrants. On occasion, these searches would be conducted by officers dressed in their respective uniforms”, culminating in robberies, PJ sources said, following the announcement of Cristovão’s arrest.

Police further explained that these crimes took place in the Greater Lisbon Area and Setúbal to the south, with the assailants often resorting to violence in order to establish where their victims had hidden cash or items of considerable value.

A statement issued by PJ police reveals that three men, aged between 37 and 49, among them Cristovão, 45, were detained by the National Anti-Terrorism Unit on charges which included the use of illegal firearms in a series armed robberies, with victims often being taken against their will.  The trio arrested on Tuesday are alleged to have been responsible for identifying targets for the subsequent and usually violent robberies perpetrated by their 12 accomplices.  [...]