Lisbon, Nov. 25, 2025 (Lusa) - Several civil society organisations and political parties condemned on Tuesday the alleged manufacture by the Portuguese Mint of two million Israeli coins, criticising Portugal for continuing to be "complicit with Israel".
The accusations, to which the Portuguese government, contacted by the Lusa news agency, has not yet responded, came from employees of the National Press - Portuguese Mint, prompting several non-governmental organisations to stage a protest involving around sixty people in front of the Portuguese public company's premises in Lisbon.
Speaking to Lusa, the vice-president of the Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and Peace in the Middle East (MPPM), Carlos Almeida, who organised the protest along with the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), described the actions of Luís Montenegro's government as "an outrage".
"Perhaps the Portuguese government thinks that after the ceasefire comes into force, we can continue to relate normally to the State of Israel, but, I'm sorry, that is not possible. The State of Israel is responsible for genocide, ethnic cleansing and colonisation that has been going on for 77 years," he said.
Carlos Almeida claimed that "an Israeli delegation will be in Lisbon to discuss the deal". He stressed that the Portuguese government must answer whether "it is willing to compromise Portugal in this genocide", especially after resolutions by the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
"[The resolutions] are very clear. Any relationship with the State of Israel makes the country an accomplice and liable to be prosecuted in the ICJ for the crime of genocide. The question we have to ask is whether the Portuguese government assumes responsibility for implicating Portugal in the possibility of being accused by the ICJ of complicity in the crime of genocide," he said.
The president of the CPPC's National Directorate, Isabel Camarinha, accused the government of colluding with Israel, despite having recognised Palestine as a state.
"Now that the Portuguese state has taken this step, it is even more shocking that it continues to collude with the Israeli government, in what are almost friendly relations, including the minting of two million coins at the Casa da Moeda, a Portuguese public company that makes millions in profits. We cannot even say that it needs this business. And the Portuguese state is colluding with Israel, which, even with the ceasefire, continues to kill Palestinians," stressed Isabel Camarinha.
"It is incomprehensible how the Portuguese government can insist on this, given the episode of the Lajes Base and the passage of the F-35s. There is a ship flying the Portuguese flag that is carrying ammunition to Israel. And now we have this situation, even the presence of an official delegation representing the Israeli government," she denounced.
Communist João Ferreira, present at the protest in his capacity as a councillor for Lisbon City Council (CML), stated that the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) had submitted a question to the Portuguese government seeking explanations about the alleged Israeli deal with the Mint, which had not been answered.
"There is a contradiction that makes this situation inappropriate. The Portuguese state was slow to recognise the State of Palestine. From that moment on, measures are expected in line with a demand, first and foremost, that Israel immediately stop the genocide," said João Ferreira.
"This commercial relationship with the State of Israel at this time and a Portuguese public company seems completely inappropriate, and it was in this sense that the PCP parliamentary group addressed a question" to the Government, he added.
The leader of the Left Bloc (BE), Jorge Costa, who took part in the protest, accused the Portuguese Government of cynicism: "Portugal pretends not to see that genocide is being committed and becomes an accomplice by treating the State of Israel as if it were a normal partner in international relations. It is not," he stressed.
The protest took place at the end of the morning with slogans such as "Israel is guilty of the massacred people", "Palestine will win" and "In every city, on every corner, we are all Palestine".
JSD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
