António Guterres has brought back into the discourse one of the most politically charged expressions in the Middle East debate: "ethnic cleansing."
In his opening speech on September 22 at the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Guterres stated there are concerns that Israel's actions border on "expulsion, eviction," and "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza and the West Bank.
As UN Secretary-General, he is not, constitutionally, a representative of any single country or every citizen of the UN’s member states. Article 97 of the UN Charter designates him as the organization’s chief administrative officer, while Article 100 requires the Secretary-General and UN staff to act independently and without receiving instructions from national governments. Yet, as someone coming from Portugal, we should talk about numbers.
There is no Genocide
For decades, we have been hearing from Palestinian supporters that an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and genocide is taking place. But the numbers tell a completely different story, establishing a demographic contradiction: if Palestinians have supposedly been subjected to ethnic cleansing for years, why has their population continued to grow?
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics—the Palestinians' own numbers, not Israel's and not the UN's—the estimated Palestinian population in the West Bank was about 1.94 million in 2000, 2.43 million in 2009, and 3.40 million in 2025. Therefore, the demographic trend is clearly upward, not downward.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who is called a murderer by his haters, has governed almost continuously over the past two decades. During these years, the overall Palestinian population in the West Bank continued to grow significantly. If he is committing genocide or ethnic cleansing, I wouldn't even let him clean my toilet because he is so inefficient.
Meanwhile, Portugal is Indeed Changing Demographically
Portugal has its own demographic transformation, and here the numbers are striking. Statistics Portugal (INE) estimates that 11.42 million residents lived in the country at the end of 2025, of whom about 1.60 million were foreign nationals—14% of the resident population. Between 2021 and 2025, the number of foreign residents increased by approximately 849,000, more than doubling.
The change is particularly evident in Lisbon.
According to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) data, the number of Bangladeshi residents in Portugal stood at 55,199 nationally in 2024, making them the seventh-largest foreign nationality registered, accounting for about 3.6% of the country's foreign resident population. Brazilians remained by far the largest foreign nationality, followed by Indians, Angolans, Ukrainians, and others.
Anyone who has lived in central Lisbon for years can also observe cultural changes that are harder to quantify in a spreadsheet: different languages in shops, different restaurants, changing retail businesses, and a far more internationally diverse workforce.
These changes can legitimately be part of discussions about immigration levels, integration, housing, labor markets, language, and the continuity of Portuguese culture. However, they do not earn the label of "ethnic cleansing" nor a mention in the UN's opening speech. Portugal's migration data describes people arriving, leaving, and changing the demographic composition of the country. They also describe the removal of Portuguese people from geographic areas through what cannot be a coincidence.
Martim Moniz Illustrates the Transformation
Martim Moniz square has become one of the most prominent symbols of Lisbon's demographic and cultural changes. Large Muslim religious celebrations have been held there for years. Academic research describes an arrangement that allows the square to be used for the two main Eid prayers, with thousands of worshippers gathering on these occasions.
On March 30, 2025, approximately 5,000 Muslims gathered at Alameda Dom Afonso Henriques for Eid al-Fitr, while additional prayers were planned for Martim Moniz and the Central Mosque of Lisbon. Participants included worshippers with backgrounds from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Morocco, and elsewhere.
The symbolism of April 25 turned into a parade of Palestinian Authority flags. During Lisbon's traditional April 25 procession in 2025 along Avenida da Liberdade, you could see a celebration with Palestinian Authority flags from every direction. What does this Islamic ideology have to do with Portugal?
Martim Moniz itself was the proposed location that same day for rival nationalist demonstrations and counter-protests. The Lisbon City Council ultimately banned these gatherings following a negative security assessment from the Public Security Police (PSP).
Guterres's statements regarding Judea and Samaria can be examined against displacement figures, settlement policy, international law, and Israel's counter-arguments. Similarly, Portugal's demographic transformation can be debated using migration numbers, integration outcomes, housing pressures, and the impacts on Portuguese society. But after decades of claims about ethnic cleansing that are not reflected in the numbers, compared to the replacement of the Portuguese in their own country, is it time to ask why no one is talking about us?
