Ventura defends Guterres’s sacking and wants parliament to condemn statements

This Wednesday, President Chegi said that the UN Secretary General “does not have the political conditions” to continue in his post and invited the Assembly of the Republic to condemn the statements of António Guterres.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Andre Ventura expressed “irritation and dissatisfaction” with the words of the UN secretary general, who said that “it is also important to recognize that the Hamas attacks did not occur in a vacuum” and that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

Chegi’s leader wants parliament to “take a clear position condemning the words” of António Guterres regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and said the former prime minister “does not have any political conditions to be UN secretary-general”, asking for his resignation.

The MP accused Guterres of being “biased and appearing to support the cause of Hamas and Palestinian peace” and felt that the UN Secretary-General had “legitimized terrorism” with his statements.

“We have a state that is under aggression, under attack, and we understand that Portugal cannot be on the side of the aggressors, it must be on the side of those who are attacked,” he defended himself.

Andre Ventura also proposed inviting Israeli President Isaac Herzog to speak at the Assembly of the Republic, which could happen remotely, as happened with Ukrainian head of state Vladimir Zelensky, or in person when he visits Portugal.

Chegi’s leader said he proposed to the speaker of parliament to “form a parliamentary delegation to visit Tel Aviv” and that the trip be “led by the president of the republic.”

Ventura said that this Wednesday he sent a letter to Santos Silva with these proposals and that he would bring the issue to the next meeting of the Leadership Conference.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog had planned a visit to Portugal in early November, which was postponed. Speaking in English on Tuesday at the opening meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, António Guterres noted that “it is also important to recognize that Hamas attacks did not occur in a vacuum,” adding that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of stifling occupation.”

António Guterres said that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas,” just as “these horrific attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” At the start of his speech, the UN Secretary-General stated that he “unequivocally condemns Hamas’s horrific and unprecedented terrorist attacks in Israel” and declared that “nothing can justify the deliberate killing, wounding and kidnapping of civilians – or shelling.” missiles against civilian targets.”

At the same meeting, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen accused António Guterres of being out of touch with reality and showing understanding of the October 7 Hamas attack in a “shocking speech.” On social network X, formerly called Twitter, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called for the immediate resignation of António Guterres as the organization’s secretary general.

This Wednesday, Gilad Erdan announced Israel’s decision not to issue visas to UN representatives in an interview with Israel Army Radio. Also this Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary-General expressed himself as “shocked by the misinterpretation” of his statements and denied justifying Hamas’ terrorist attacks.