The IRMEX Forum 2026 (Iberian Middle East Exchange), scheduled for the current week, in Porto and Lisbon, and is designed as a large-scale event promoting cultural, educational, and business exchanges. Yet, the event is under fire and calls for boycotts from several organizations, including the BDS Portugal movement, the Committee of Solidarity with Palestine and a tiny leftist group called "Jews for Peace and Justice".

They appealed to the mayor of Porto and the National Coordinator of the European Strategy to Combat Antisemitism to distance themselves from the event and its organizers. They argue it serves to legitimize settlement activity and characterize the IRMEX association as a political project aimed at normalizing the illegal occupation of Palestine and acting as a propaganda tool for Zionism.

The Mayor of Porto and the National Coordinator

Pedro Duarte yielded to pressure and has publicly stated that he will not participate in the event. Among the announced guests, is also the National Coordinator of the European Strategy to Combat Antisemitism and Promote Jewish Life, João Taborda da Gama, whom the protesting groups remind that “the defense of Israel and the support of Israeli settlements are not among his duties as coordinator of the fight against antisemitism” and that “in doing so, he fuels the false equivalence between Judaism and the crimes of the State of Israel, thus contributing, himself, to the antisemitism that he should be fighting”.

The Committee of Solidarity with Palestine - BDS Portugal and Jews for Peace and Justice also recall that Taborda da Gama recently considered the phrase “From the river to the sea” as an “example of contemporary antisemitism”, while now he associates himself with a person (Yosef Santos) who uses the same expression to declare that “from the river to the sea” there will only be Israel. Because they believe that association with or participation in IRMEX events "constitutes tacit support for the occupation, colonialism, and crimes committed by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people," the groups urge speakers and guests "to immediately distance themselves from this event and its promoters, under penalty of complicity in the aforementioned crimes."

A grandson who honors his grandfather's greatness

The IRMEX Forum is organized by a Portuguese-Israeli couple who live in Israel. Also Henrique Cymerman, born in Porto and grandson of the former president of the Jewish Community of Porto Meir Cymerman of blessed memory, is currently facing criticism for his role as a mentor and "honorary advisor" for the Fórum IRMEX 2026. Cymerman’s dual role as a prominent SIC correspondent and an "honorary advisor" to IRMEX has led to accusations of a conflict of interest. Critics claim this close affiliation compromises his professional impartiality while reporting on the Middle East.

"Stop the Parasites!"

The Jewish Community of Porto took the opportunity to warn the Israeli government that it is becoming necessary "to think how to definitely stop these parasites, who not only do they now try to boycott a cultural event with letters and threats of demonstrations (2026), as have already tried to poison Israeli Jews at a music festival (2025), have spat on Jewish businessmen in the city blaming them for the housing crisis (2024), have defaced the synagogue with apartheid inscriptions (2023), and have involved the Portuguese state in a case of trafficking of powers to defame a Jewish institution (2022)".

The Red-Green alliance

The "Red-Green alliance" often referred to as an "Islamo-leftist" alliance is the tactical, often ideological, convergence between the far-left (red) and Islamist/radical Islamic organizations (green). This alliance focuses on shared interests and joint actions against common adversaries rather than a fully shared ideology. Both sides frequently unite against what they perceive as common enemies: Western liberal democracy, American imperialism, capitalism, and specifically Israel (Zionism).

The alliance is a cognitive dissonance, a coalition of convenience, an unsustainable, unnatural alliance between parties with opposing core values. While they cooperate, the long-term goals differ, with radical Islamists seeking religious governance like a caliphate and leftists pursuing secular, anti-capitalist goals. Gay or not gay, these apologists for advanced doctrines only realize that they are wrong when they are tortured in the countries they defend and not by chance never visit anonymously. The results have historical roots, such as the support of leftist factions and groups for the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, from where they were subsequently purged by the Islamists.