Since taking office in Lisbon in December 2024, the Israeli Ambassador to Portugal, Oren Rozenblat, has consistently generated significant controversy while defending his nation's actions and policies, and to dealing with anti-Jewish wokism. His vocal stances and his direct public rebukes of Portuguese and European policies have drawn sharp domestic criticism.
In August 2025, Rozenblat caused massive public outrage during an interview with the Portuguese network SIC Notícias. He explicitly rejected United Nations reports documenting mass starvation and acute malnutrition in the enclave, stating, "Nobody has died of hunger in Gaza" and dismissing media reports of infants dying from exposure or lack of resources as "a sad joke".
In October 2025, following Portugal’s official announcement that it intended to formally recognize the State of Palestine, Rozenblat publicly argued that "rewarding Palestinian statehood in the wake of the ongoing war effectively signaled that killing Jews pays" and warned that "bilateral relations between Lisbon and Jerusalem would suffer long-term damage".
In May 2026, Rozenblat sparked another diplomatic row during an interview with the public radio station RTP Antena 1. He warned that if the Portuguese government backed a European Union proposal to suspend its trade agreement with Israel, Portugal would be classified as an "extremist country", placing it in the same category as Spain and Ireland. The statement triggered heated public debates regarding whether his diplomatic status should be re-evaluated by local authorities.
In August 2026, he demanded that municipal authorities in Faro cancel an upcoming stadium concert by American rapper Ye (Kanye West) due to the artist's history of antisemitic rhetoric and praise for Nazi figures.
Rozenblat maintains the firm backing of conservative pro-Israel organizations and Jewish communities within Portugal, who view his unyielding public posture as a necessary firewall against rising European antisemitism.
