Lisbon, Oct. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Cabinet office minister stated on Friday that there was an administrative failure on the part of the services in the case of the American F-35 aircraft that were at the Azores Lajes Base bound for Israel, which made it impossible to issue a political alert for an opposition decision.
This was the central argument put forward by António Leitão Amaro at the press conference at the end of the Cabinet meeting, after being questioned about a case involving the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs - and in which the latter ministry, headed by Paulo Rangel, has already acknowledged failures.
"What happened was a failure to assess the specific case in relation to the communication made by the United States that they had aircraft passing through, parking and stopping at Lajes Air Base," said the Cabinet office minister.
António Leitão Amaro pointed out that this was a communication "under a prior communication mechanism, with a very short deadline, and an administrative assessment by the services, in relation to which a failure has already been recorded".
A failure which, according to this member of the executive, did not allow for an alert to be raised at a political level.
"Effectively, there was a failure at the level of the services - this is acknowledged - and this did not lead to a decision to oppose the entry of these Israel-bound planes. It is in this part that the failure to alert the political level lies, for a possible different treatment, which did not occur, of a situation that was communicated as a passage and use of American military equipment," he stressed.
The member of the executive then sought to highlight Portugal's diplomatic position in favour of ending the conflict involving Israel and recognising the Palestinian State.
"The Portuguese government has a well-known position on the Middle East conflict, which has seen very significant developments in an international context in which Portugal, together with other close allies such as the United Kingdom and France, recently formally recognised the State of Palestine, in a spirit of respect and consideration for the governance of the Palestinian Authority."
"This is a landmark decision that is in line with Portugal's long-standing foreign policy, but in this case, it is a historic decision in that the long-standing idea of two states is materialised in this formal recognition," he added.
António Leitão Amaro also considered that the Portuguese Government "has also taken a very clear position, with this Prime Minister and this Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the prohibition and limitations on the sale of arms".
"Portugal has participated in this international effort for peace and contribution to finding a solution," he added.
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