Left Bloc MPs are among those who have signed the Progressive International’s call for Portugal to suspend arms sales to Israel, arguing it is a “serious violation of international law” in Gaza.
In an open letter published this Friday, 218 parliamentarians from 13 countries that export weapons or weapons components to Israel express their “commitment to ending arms sales” to the State of Israel.
“Our bombs and bullets should not be used to kill, maim and rob Palestinians (…) We do not want to be complicit in Israel’s serious violation of international law,” reads the document, which Agência Lusa had access to.
Signatories from Portugal, the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Australia, Turkey and Ireland promise to “take immediate and coordinated action” in their parliaments in this regard.
In addition to five Left Bloc lawmakers, including coordinator Mariana Mortagua, the open letter was signed by Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, one of the leaders of the protest movement seeking votes in the Democratic primaries against President Joe Biden over his support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza Strip.
Other followers include former Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has since been suspended over anti-Semitism controversies, Brazilian federal lawmaker and Party of Socialism and Freedom leader Guilherme Boulos, and Spanish Podemos leader Ione Belarra.
Progressive International was founded in May 2020 and claims to have more than 100 organizations in different countries.
The war erupted on October 7 when Hamas commandos infiltrating from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel that killed at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli data. .
During the attack, about 250 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Of these, 195 have been released, according to Tel Aviv, but 130 hostages are still being held in the enclave, 31 of whom are believed to have died.
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which it considers, along with the United States and the European Union, to be a terrorist organization.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza so far, the vast majority of them civilians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.