Controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to arrive in Israel Sunday evening for a four-day official visit, marking the first by a Philippine president since the two states established diplomatic relations in 1957.
According to his official schedule, the Philippine president, who is known for egregious human rights violations in his country, is scheduled to participate in an event involving Filipinos working in Israel, tour Jerusalem’s Old City, visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and also see a monument to the Philippines for opening its borders to Jews during the Holocaust.
There are other details of Duterte’s itinerary, however, that have not been made public. This includes an inspection of advanced weapons and equipment arranged by Israel’s defense ministry.
Israeli weapons companies have been criticized by human rights activists, most notably Elie Yosef, for arming Duterte’s regime and turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed against Muslims, leftists and Filipinos involved in the country’s drug trade.
Since Duterte entered office two years ago, thousands of citizens in his country have been killed by the security forces as part of what the regime is calling an operation to root out illegal drug use.
The Manila Times reported that Duterte is considering buying Israeli equipment for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG). The head of the coast guard and other PCG officials are said to be among the 400-person delegation accompanying Duterte on his visit. The Philippine government has reportedly allocated the equivalent of $56 million for ships, patrol boats, and weaponry.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israel began selling military equipment to the Philippines in 2015 – one year before Duterte took office – when it sold $6 million worth of weapons to the southeast Asian country. That number dropped to $4 million in 2016, but then went up to $21 million in 2017.
Yosef and others concerned with how a Jewish state is meant to behave on the world stage have criticized Israel’s defense ministry and weapons firms for betraying Jewish values through the arming of war criminals like Duterte.
Duterte is also scheduled to have lunch with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) and also meet with President Reuven Rivlin.
A group of Israeli activists, headed by attorney Etai Mack, wrote to Rivlin last month to urge him not to meet with Duterte.
In the letter, the activists wrote that it would be “improper” for Israel to host Duterte.
“Certainly, 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 letter to the president enumerated several of Duterte’s statements and actions, annotated with newspaper links, during his election campaign and since taking office. These include an anti-drug operation called “knock and plead,” in which 4,000 people have so far been killed.
The letter also mentioned one of the best-known cases in Duterte’s “war against drugs” in which the Filipino police abducted a South Korean businessman in October 2016, murdered him, burned his body and still demanded a ransom from the man’s family for his release.
“Unfortunately, as we know, Duterte’s move to resolve political and social problems and enact social engineering by quick mass killings, is not the first such case in history. The fact that the international community is silent or only weakly denounces these killings, is also not new,” the letter stated.
“In light of the serious crimes for which Duterte is responsible, we believe that his visit to the presidential residency will disgrace President Rivlin and the institution of the presidency, and that the visit should not take place, in spite of the fact that it is intended to promote arms deals and UN votes [in Israel’s favor].”
