Duterte's Israel visit to affirm his 'friends to all, enemies to none' policy
September 2, 2018 | 3:17pm
President Rodrigo Duterte receives the credentials of Ambassador-Designate of the State of Israel to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz during a ceremony held at the Malacañan Palace on Aug. 31, 2018. Also in the photo is Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.
Ace Morandante / Presidential Photo
JERUSALEM — President Rodrigo Duterte will kick off on Sunday his historic visit here in a move that seeks to affirm his "friends to all, enemies to none" policy.
The visit, the first by a sitting Philippine president, will include a meeting with Israeli leaders and an attendance to the inauguration of a Holocaust memorial site.
The trip comes as the Middle East continues to be gripped with tensions over a longstanding territorial dispute between Israel and Palestine that has turned the region into a flash point.
"We consider this visit extremely important. We consider it a historic visit and we hope to transform this historic relationship and this enduring friendship into a more vibrant and stronger partnership," Philippine Ambassador to Israel Nathaniel Imperial told state-run Radio Television Malacañang.
"We consider this a new phase of our relationship with Israel. This is an important landmark visit. No Philippine president before ever dared visit this country. But now things have changed. We have a very close relationship with Israel and its people," he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has said Duterte's landmark visit to Israel won't hurt the Philippines' ties with Arab countries that do not recognize the Jewish state.
"We are aware of certain sensitivities... I believe we have reached a stage of maturity in our relations that they understand each one of them," DFA Undersecretary Ernesto Abella said in a recent press briefing.
"We have multilateral relations, and as we pointed out, we are friends to all and enemies to none... It should not serve as an obstacle with our ongoing bilateral relationships with each of these nations," he added.
The Philippines is the only Asian country to support a United Nations resolution that created Israel. Its vote broke the tie at the UN that paved the way for the establishment of the state of Israel.
Israel was formed after the UN adopted a resolution dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states in 1947. The resolution also placed Jerusalem, an important religious site for Jews, Christians and Muslims, under international control and administered by the UN.
The UN resolution was opposed by Palestinians who regarded it as an attempt to drive them away from the area.
Duterte will start his four-day visit by meeting with about 1,400 members of the Filipino community to update them on the developments in the Philippines. Israel hosts about 28,000 overseas Filipino workers.
On Monday, Duterte will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss ways to boost cooperation in labor, tourism, trade, agriculture, counter-terrorism, security and law enforcement.
Duterte is also expected to witness the signing of bilateral agreements on the employment of Filipino caregivers, scientific cooperation and investments. About 13 to 15 private sector deals will also be inked during the visit.
"We have a great opportunity to really maximize the potential of this relationship which in some aspects are still quite underdeveloped," Imperial said.
Previous reports said Duterte would push for an arms deal with Israel but officials have yet to confirm it.
Imperial, however, noted that Israel is one of the countries providing defense equipment to the Philippines because of a logistics agreement.
"We are also trying to diversify our sources of supply of defense equipment. And this is important if we are to pursue an independent foreign policy," the envoy said.
After Duterte's meeting with Netanyahu, Duterte will visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center. He would join a ceremony inaugurating a monument to the Filipino rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.
The Philippines provided sanctuary to about 1,300 Jewish refugees who were fleeing the Holocaust, the systematic murder of about six million Jews by Nazi Germany during the World War II.
In 2009, the Philippine embassy and the Israeli government dedicated a monument in the city of Rishon Lezion called the Open Doors monument to commemorate the humanitarian assistance provided by the Philippines to Jewish refugees.
Two years ago, Duterte sparked outrage after he compared his war on illegal drugs with the Holocaust. The tough-talking leader said Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had massacred three million Jews and he was happy to slaughter three million drug addicts. Duterte has apologized for the remark and has insisted that he did not intend to desecrate the memory of the Holocaust victims.
Duterte will meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday and will depart for Jordan the following day. — Alexis Romero
As It Happens
LATEST UPDATE: August 13, 2018 - 6:22pm
President Rodrigo Duterte accepts the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Israel from Sept. 2-5, 2018.
On Sunday, Israel newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli human rights activists wrote a letter to the country's President Reuven Rivlin asking him not to meet Duterte.
"There is no place for a mass murderer and a person who supports rape, shooting women in their sexual organs and bombing schools to meet with Israel’s president," the report said quoting the letter.
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