In the first BE dinner-rally in the official campaign for the European elections on June 9, at Escola Secundária da Portela, in the parish of Moscavide, municipality of Loures, in Lisbon, Catarina Martins recalled that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has already demanded that Israel withdraw from Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli attack recently hit a displaced persons camp.

Catarina Martins acknowledged that the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell, has been saying that Israel cannot insult this international court, but regretted that this is "an isolated voice" in the European Union.

"Most of the speeches have been speeches of cynicism. Paulo Rangel, Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, decided to say that no government has done so much to recognize the State of Palestine. He forgot one detail: recognizing the State of Palestine. This is cynicism and it is against cynicism that we stand up," she said.

In the view of the Left Bloc candidate for a seat in the European Parliament, it is also cynicism for the European Union to "maintain an association agreement with Israel when it commits war crimes and is carrying out a genocide in Gaza".

"Against cynicism we stand up, sanctions against Israel now. Immediate ceasefire, free Palestine," she exclaimed, in one of the most applauded moments of her speech.

In her speech, in which she recalled that this year marks the 50th anniversary of April 25, 1974, and the Carnation Revolution, which overthrew the dictatorship, Catarina Martins defended that "there is no democracy without a welfare state" and considered that these are "the most important elections ever".

Earlier, before an audience that included BE coordinator Mariana Mortágua, BE parliamentary leader Fabian Figueiredo argued that the European Union needs a "civic surge, a spring of peace and freedom".

The deputy considered that many of the main faces of Union policy, such as Ursula von der Leyen, "give Europe a bad name" and "are the face of a morally bankrupt policy".

Fabian Figueiredo warned that "a genocide is underway" in Rafah and accused the Portuguese government of "knowing in detail what is happening and collaborating".

"To vote for the Left Bloc is to vote for Palestine. It is to vote for a Europe of peace, justice, and social rights. The Europe of socialism in democracy," he said.

At the beginning of his speech, the deputy from Loures recalled that in this municipality, in 2017, André Ventura (currently leader of Chega) was a candidate for the Municipal Chamber by the PSD, then led by Pedro Passos Coelho.

"We will never forget to recall that Dr. André Ventura, his policy, his hate speech was born in the PSD here, because the PSD, the Portuguese right, thought that in Portugal hatred should be mobilized again for political purposes," he accused.

Fabian Figueiredo stated that the left will "always serve as a barrier to the hatred of those who want to divide in order to ultimately make life easier for the Portuguese financial elite".

"That is why it was possible for Chega to be born from the PSD or for the Liberal Initiative to make its economic program compatible with that of Chega, because in the end it is always about dividing those who live on the income from their work by raising moral wars, creating social divisions to make life easier for the elite," he criticized.

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