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Portugal announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state, along with Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.

The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the recognition on Friday, one day before a UNGA high-level conference on Palestinian statehood.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement on its website that it “confirms that Portugal will recognize the State of Palestine.”

The High-Level Conference will take place on Sunday, September 21st, according to the statement.

Before making the final decision, center-right Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro consulted with the president and the parliament, according to Correio da Manha newspaper.

After the proposal was first presented by the country’s Left Bloc political party in 2011, it came to an end, according to Correio da Manha, in the country’s parliament.

global outcry

Portugal’s announcement comes days after a groundbreaking UN investigation revealed that Israel’s occupation of Gaza amounts to genocide.

Since Israel’s deadly attack first started in October 2023, there have been at least 65, 141 fatalities, and 165, 925 injuries. Another tens of thousands are thought to be buried beneath the rubble.

The Portuguese government first stated its intention to recognize Palestine as a state in July, citing the humanitarian crisis, Israel’s repeated threats to annex Palestinian territory, and the “extremely worrying evolution of the conflict.”

At the high-level meeting it is co-organising with Saudi Arabia in New York on Monday, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier on Friday that Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, and San Marino intend to recognize the State of Palestine alongside France.

Both Canada and the UK have stated that they will follow suit.

They will join 147 nations, which make up 75% of the UN’s members, who already recognized the statehood of Palestine in April of this year.

After the United States denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa, Portugal was one of the 145 nations that voted on Friday to allow him to address the UNGA in New York the following week via video.

The five nations that cast ballot no included Israel, Palestine, Paraguay, and the United States, while six other nations cast ballots.

Israel and the US have harshly criticized nations for recognizing Palestine, with Marco Rubio, the US’s secretary of state, calling it a “reckless decision” that “only serves Hamas propaganda.”

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, warned last year that every nation that recognizes Palestine will establish a new, illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Luxembourg takes into account sanctions

Luxembourgeois Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel both announced earlier this week that their nation plans to grant Palestinian statehood at the UNGA.

According to Luxembourg’s broadcaster RTL Letzebuerg, Bettel also stated that he would propose a bill to the legislature in order for the country to pass additional measures, such as sanctions.

The UN Special Representative on Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, has called on nations to impose more sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel in order to put an end to Israel’s occupation of Gaza.

The UNGA stated that it would give an Arab state 45% of the land under its 1947 partition plan.

A prominent Republican senator has joined the Democrats in criticizing the government of the United States’ threats to Disney and local broadcasters for Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The threat by FCC chair Brendan Carr to impose regulations on networks based on the content of their shows, according to Ted Cruz, who oversees the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Carr’s comments were “dangerous as hell” and “right out of Goodfellas,” according to Cruz, who also spoke on his podcast.

“Nice bar you have here, mafioso, come in here, go,” says the mafioso. It would be unfortunate if something did,” Cruz said.

Carr had threatened to fine broadcasters or revoke Jimmy Kimmel Live’s broadcast license, leading to the suspension of the late-night talk show on ABC, which is Disney-owned.

Additionally, the show’s owners announced that they would no longer air it on dozens of ABC-affiliated local TV stations.

Carr threatened to sue the host for his opening monologue on Monday, which discussed the murder of Charlie Kirk, a friend and political ally of the president, and sparked outcry from the audience.

The MAGA gang is trying their hardest to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and they are doing everything in their power to get political points out of it, Kimmel said in reference to 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.

Cruz’s criticism of Carr is a rare instance of a prominent Trump party publicly criticizing his administration, raising deeper unresolved bipartisan concerns about free speech attacks.

On his podcast, Cruz said, “We shouldn’t be threatening government authority to force him to stop.” We will regret it if we use it to silence every conservative in America, he said, despite what it might feel like at the moment.

Trump, however, said he disagreed with Cruz and called Carr “an incredible American patriot with courage.”

Trump has already criticised Kimmel’s Kirk monologue, and he also suggested on Thursday that broadcasters who oppose his administration should have their FCC-issued licenses voided.

When asked to clarify his earlier statements, he responded, “I’m a very strong person for free speech.”

He continued, though, saying that broadcasters were acting like Democrats because they were “really illegal” because of him.

He claimed that “that’s no longer free speech” and that it’s just cheating.

The Trump administration’s pressure on Kimmel and the networks that air his show has been criticized by prominent Democrats and civil rights organizations.

Carr is “one of the greatest threats to free speech that America has ever known,” according to Democrat and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer when he demanded that Trump fire him or resign.

On Friday, Democratic representatives in the House of Representatives requested an investigation into Carr’s comments and actions.