Portugal continues to defend the two-state solution after activists destroyed the MNE headquarters. see the picture

Portugal continues to defend the two-state solution – Israel and Palestine, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said in Maputo on Monday after activists destroyed the ministry’s headquarters in Lisbon.

“The Foreign Minister is in Brussels today for a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council and will have the opportunity to comment on this (…) without forgetting to remember Portugal’s support for a two-state solution,” Francisco said. Andre, questioned by Lusa during a two-day visit to Maputo.

“And in particular the very visible financial support by Portugal for the United Nations Agency that operates in Gaza, as we all know,” he added, sending further comments on the incident this Monday to Minister João Cravinho.

Activists, in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, broke several windows at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon this Monday morning and painted the phrase “Israel kills, Portugal supports” on the building’s gates, PSP confirmed.

In a note sent to Lusa, a group of activists in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and the Palestine Liberation Collective, Climáximo and the Lisbon Student Climate Strike pointed to what they considered “the support of the Portuguese government and in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a colonial project that for more than 75 years was based on the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

“Over the past four months, this support has become even more evident,” the group said, remembering that since October 7, 2023 – the time of the Islamist Hamas movement’s surprise attack on southern Israel – Minister João Craviño “was quick to demonstrate his solidarity with the Zionist regime.”

“Several times he defended Israel’s right to “defend itself,” its “duty of solidarity.” [de Portugal] towards Israel” and emphasized “the friendship between Portugal and Israel”, he emphasizes.

In the note, members of this group report a phrase painted on the gate of the MNE building, as well as the presence of broken glass, information confirmed by the PSP and GNR guarding the building.

Speaking to Lusa, a PNR source confirmed that at 03:00, officers inside the building realized that the glass had been broken and a phrase had been painted on the gate, reminding them that no one had been arrested.

“The officers were inside, and when they realized that the windows had already been broken and a phrase had been written,” the source explained, adding that now only from CCTV images it will be possible to identify the criminals.

“This was not the first night that we had elements of the pro-Palestinian movement there,” he said.

In a note published this Monday, the group claiming these actions recalls that even when in January the International Criminal Court agreed to rule on the South African government’s petition regarding the crime of apartheid committed by the Zionist regime, “the Portuguese government never expressed support this complaint.”

“On the contrary, in the same week that the trial in The Hague Court began, Joao Cravinho announced that the Portuguese army would participate in a military attack against the Houthis, a Yemeni group that has carried out several resistance actions in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” he adds.

Activists also believe that only in early February, “when more than 25 thousand Palestinians had already been killed in the Gaza Strip and almost two million became refugees,” João Craviño criticized Israel, quoting the ruler’s phrases, while at the same time, keep in mind that Israel’s position was not only in self-defense.