According to a note published on Belém's official website, “the President of the Republic spoke on the phone with his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, at his request”.
“The President of Israel wanted to explain the postponement of the visit to Portugal (which was scheduled for early November), as well as inform the Portuguese President of his country's position on the current situation”, says the note.
According to the same text, the President of Israel “thanked Portugal for the immediate condemnation of the terrorist attacks”.
“Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke of the Portuguese position, within the framework of international and constitutional values and principles. The relevance of the human lives involved was naturally considered”, adds the text.
Last week, during his State visit to Belgium, the President of the Republic considered that Portugal “has been clear in its condemnation of the Hamas terrorist attack” on October 7th in Israeli territory, defending the “legitimate right of the response of Israel in relation to Hamas”, but separating this Islamist group from the “Palestinian people as a whole” and condemning “conducts and behaviours that, when targeting innocent civilian victims, are obviously deplorable”.