President Rodrigo Duterte
When Rodrigo Duterte makes the first visit to Israel by a president of the Philippines next week, officials on both sides will try to play down his record of jarring invective while promoting commercial and military ties.
Israel sees the four-day tour by Duterte and his top ministers as a chance to thank Manila for taking in Jews during the Holocaust and backing the Israeli independence campaign that followed.
Tourism, labour and defence deals are also on the agenda, cementing relationships between the Asian power and booming Israel, both historical U.S. allies.
Yet Israel's Government Press Office has said most of the visit will be closed to the media, an apparent precaution against faux pas by a president whose two-fisted crime-fighting tactics and rhetoric have raised hackles at home and abroad.
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has called for the “liquidation” of the Hamas leadership in Gaza and the destruction of the group’s missile-production capacity, Israeli daily Maariv reported on Friday.According to the newspaper, Bennett said Israel should “do what we did in Judea and Samaria” -- a reference to the occupied West Bank, where Israel has arrested and, in some cases, assassinated Hamas leaders, including lawmakers.In response to remarks by Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who threatened Israel with missile attacks if the latter struck Gaza, Bennett said: “Our priority now is to degrade Hamas’s ability to attack us.”Israel troops hurt 10 Palestinians during Ramallah demoIsraeli troops fire on Gaza protesters, wounding 52
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Some Israeli pundits have recoiled at his planned attendance at Holocaust commemorations.
In 2016, in a bungled reference to an opponent’s remark that his rise could be like that of Adolf Hitler, Duterte said he himself would be “happy to slaughter” drug addicts on the scale of the Nazi leader's Jewish genocide.
While Duterte apologised for that, he has been dogged by accusations from activists that thousands of killings in his ongoing war on drugs were executions, which he rejects, and is rebuked by women’s groups for remarks that make light of rape.
In June, Duterte called God “stupid” and has lashed out repeatedly at the Catholic church, deeming it hypocritical. His visit will include sight-seeing in Jerusalem's walled Old City, which houses major Christian, Jewish and Muslim shrines.
Ten Palestinians were injured by Israeli troops on Friday while taking part in a demonstration against Israeli settlement-building near the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to activists.According to a statement released by a local popular resistance committee, troops used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.Friday’s demonstration was held to protest Israeli plans to build Jewish-only settler units on Palestinian land near the village of Ras Karkar on Ramallah’s outskirts.According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Israeli Jews now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) -- and more than 200 settler outposts (built without government approval) -- across the occupied West Bank.International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.
Israel troops hurt 10 Palestinians during Ramallah demo
"There's just no knowing what he will say from one moment to the next, so both sides want to keep this (Israel) visit as low-key as possible," one official involved in the planning, and who asked not to be identified by name or nationality, told Reuters.
TAKING CARE
Aides say Duterte hopes to regulate labour relations with Israel, where between 24,000 and 28,000 Filipinos work, mostly as care-givers, and to promote Holy Land tourism from the predominantly Catholic Asian country which has been growing by 30 percent to 50 percent annually in recent years.
Establishing a direct air connection between Israel and the Philippines is in discussion.
Duterte also wants to improve security cooperation with Israel, which has sold the Philippines three radar systems and 100 armoured vehicles, and which Manila is now eyeing for an aircraft deal. According to Israeli government data, exports to the Philippines were worth $143 million last year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, is suspected of bribery and corruption, Israeli media reported. A senior police official told the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday that the premier's wife is a suspect in a bribery probe involving the Bezeq telecommunication company, also known as Case 4000.The case involves accusations that Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch had instructed the Walla news website, which he owns, to provide Netanyahu with positive media coverage.Last June, Sara Netanyahu, was indicted for fraud for allegedly using public funds to pay for expensive restaurant meals.According to the indictment, Sara instructed staff at the Prime Minister's Jerusalem residence to order private meals worth some 350,000 Israeli shekels (roughly $96,600) in the period from 2010 to 2013.Netanyahu and his family have been the subject of criminal investigations over corruption and fraud allegations. In February, Israeli police recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for alleged corruption, saying there was now sufficient evidence to formally charge him in two separate graft cases. The first case involves Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who was allegedly asked to purchase luxury items for Netanyahu and his wife. The second relates to an alleged deal -- again for favorable media coverage -- with Arnon Mozes, publisher of Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Israel will not acknowledge int'l agreements on SyriaIsrael would pay ‘heavy price’ for Gaza war: LiebermanIsraeli army arrests 16 Palestinians in West Bank raidsIsraeli court extends Palestinian woman’s detention
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Duterte, who has kept domestic opinion on edge by hankering for retirement before his term ends in 2022, makes no secret of his personal disdain for Washington and its foreign policy.
Still, he shares Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rapport with U.S. President Donald Trump. That has stirred modest hope in Israel that the maverick Asian leader might use his visit to announce recognition of Jerusalem as the country's capital, as Trump did last December, outraging the Palestinians.
"We have been encouraging the Philippines on this (Jerusalem recognition), as we do with all countries," one Israeli diplomat said. "We don't know that Duterte will do it - but neither do we know that he won't."
Ernesto Abella, an official with the Foreign Ministry in Manila and a former Duterte spokesman, said the issue of moving the Philippine embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the United States did in May, had not been discussed.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday said that any international agreements regarding post-war Syria would not be binding on Israel.“With all due respect for agreements and treaties [on Syria], they will not be considered binding for us,” Lieberman was quoted as saying by Israeli daily Haaretz.“We are committed solely to the interests of Israel's security,” he added.Russia to hold major naval drills in MediterraneanThe defense minister did not say exactly what agreements he had in mind, but senior Israeli officials have repeatedly stressed their rejection of any long-term Iranian military presence in Syria.On Monday, Iranian media outlets reported that Tehran and Damascus had signed a number of military and reconstruction agreements during a visit to Syria by Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami. Speaking to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth on Thursday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said that a permanent Iranian presence in Syria would “endanger” Syria’s Assad regime.Manbij roadmap 'moving forward slowly': Turkey's Akar“We are determined to prevent [long-term] Iranian deployments in Syria,” he asserted.Israel frequently accuses Tehran of exploiting the conflict in neighboring Syria -- where Iran supports the Assad regime -- to establish a permanent military presence near Israel’s border.Russia warns US against 'illegal aggression against Syria'
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Abella said the controversy around Duterte's Hitler comments had been settled "way back".
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that Israel "assign(s) great importance to this visit, which symbolises the strong, warm ties between our peoples as well as the enormous potential for developing and strengthening the relations".
Duterte arrives in Israel on Sunday and on Wednesday departs for neighbouring Jordan.