On Wednesday, May 22, the Cinema São Jorge in Lisbon will host the celebration of the 76th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel.

According to what Notícias ao Minuto has been able to find out, the commemorative event is being promoted by the Israeli embassy in Lisbon and commemorates the "independence" of Israel.

According to the website Esquerda.net, the space was provided by the Lisbon City Council, something that Notícias ao Minuto tried to confirm with the local authority, which referred explanations to EGEAC, the entity that manages the Cinema São Jorge.

On Sunday, upon learning of this event, councilor Beatriz Gomes Dias submitted a request to the mayor, Carlos Moedas, asking that this support be withdrawn.

The Left Bloc (BE) considers this situation "unacceptable given that for more than seven months Israel has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza which, according to the United Nations, has already killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, including 7,797 children and 4,959 women".

"It is impossible to accept that Lisbon is hosting a celebration promoted by the Israeli Embassy at a time when that State is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza. On the contrary, the Lisbon City Council must demonstrate its solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemn the massacre in Gaza", the councilor from the Bloc also defended.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee was the first to react to the event. On Instagram, the group guarantees that, annually, the anniversary brings together "influential figures from the Portuguese political, social, cultural and business scene, in a charm and propaganda campaign that aims to whitewash Zionist crimes", recalling that, in 2022, the event took place on the same day that "journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was executed in Jenin by the Israeli occupation forces".

Thus, "it is with surprise" that the Committee says it sees "a cultural space of the Lisbon City Council (CML) associating itself with an event of this nature".

"We cannot accept that the CML and EGEAC become accomplices in these crimes, hosting the celebration of these crimes in their spaces, by the State that commits them with total impunity. We do not accept that municipal cultural spaces be used in propaganda actions and whitewashing of a genocidal state", wrote those responsible, adding that they repudiate the holding of the event and demand that the entities responsible cancel it.

"Lisbon's cultural spaces cannot be a stage or backdrop for the diplomatic staging of those who commit war crimes", they concluded, appealing "to all workers in the cultural structures of the CML and EGEAC, and all cultural actors in the country, to condemn the holding of this event at São Jorge".

The publication already has 4 thousand likes, including several well-known faces, many shares and more than a hundred comments.

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 "Public service mission"

Questioned about the holding of the event, at a time when the war in Gaza continues to kill thousands of people, EGEAC explained that "Cinema São Jorge bases its activity in two ways: on the one hand, via cultural programming with partners and in its own way - in this case, essentially cinematographic programming; on the other hand, via concessions and rental of spaces for private initiatives, as is the case of the event on May 22" and that, in this context, the space "has hosted political organizations, embassies, unions, cultural associations, NGOs and agents of civil society in the most diverse contexts".

Thus, despite Israel being involved in a war that divides public opinion, EGEAC believes "that this is also part of its public service mission".

"The promotion of diversity, pluralism and freedom are, moreover, transversal in the work developed by EGEAC", highlighted the Equipment and Cultural Animation Management company, E.M., S.A., responsible for the preservation, promotion and management of some of the most emblematic cultural spaces in Lisbon.

It is worth remembering that, this Monday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) appealed for the issuance of arrest warrants against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as against several Hamas leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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