On October 27, the United Nations Normal Meeting handed a nonbinding decision with overwhelming help calling for a right away humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas and demanding assist entry to Gaza.
100 twenty nations voted in favour of the decision, clearly expressing their opposition to the continuation of Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza, which has claimed 1000’s of civilian lives.
The Philippines was not a type of nations. Together with 45 others, it abstained from voting on the decision. As an alternative, it acknowledged Israel’s “right to self-defence” whereas remaining mum on the human rights abuses and struggle crimes confronted by Palestinians in Gaza.
Though disappointing, this was not precisely shocking. The federal government of the Philippines has been supporting Israel unconditionally for a lot of many years, turning a blind eye to its many violations of worldwide legislation and grave crimes in opposition to Palestinians dwelling beneath its occupation.
The ties between the Philippines and Israel are as previous as Israel itself. The Philippines was one of many 33 nations that voted in favour of UN Decision 181 in 1947 to partition Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem positioned beneath a particular worldwide regime. This plan, as everyone knows, by no means materialised. However the Philippines continued to help the Israeli state and its illegal growth into Palestinian territories.
Israel and the Philippines established full diplomatic relationships in 1957 and signed a treaty of friendship in 1958. Manila’s help for Israel has remained strong since then. It not solely by no means pressured Israel to cede occupied Palestinian territories but in addition all the time actively sought to guard it from worldwide criticism. In 2017, for instance, overtly contradicting its 1947 place, the Philippines abstained from voting on a decision criticising then-United States President Donald Trump’s try to unilaterally cement Jerusalem because the capital of Israel.
A yr later, Rodrigo Duterte turned the primary Filipino president in historical past to go to Israel. Duterte had promised early in his tenure to carve out an unbiased overseas coverage that wouldn’t mechanically toe the US coverage line. But beneath his administration, as exemplified in his 2018 go to to the nation, the Philippines continued its unconditional diplomatic and political help for Israel on all fronts.
At the moment, beneath the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the Philippines is firmly again within the US sphere of affect, and the nation’s help for Israel stays as robust as ever.
For the reason that October 7 Hamas assaults on Israel, during which about 1,200 individuals have been killed and greater than 200 taken captive, the Philippines repeatedly demonstrated solidarity with Israel and condemned the hurt inflicted on Israeli civilians. However it didn’t cease there.
According to its long-held pro-Israel place, the Philippines went past advocating for the human rights of Israelis and supplied blind help for the Israeli authorities and its vengeful and objectively disproportionate assaults on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
By displaying unconditional and unquestioning help for the Israeli authorities and its struggle on Gaza, the Philippines has positioned itself firmly on the incorrect aspect of historical past and ended up working in opposition to its personal pursuits.
Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza already has had an immense human price, claiming greater than 11,000 lives, lots of them kids, in simply a number of weeks. Like all nations, the Philippines has an ethical obligation not to participate in, help or in anyway condone state insurance policies and actions that result in 1000’s of deaths, widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and mass displacement. It additionally has an obligation to carry all states, together with its allies, to account once they blatantly violate worldwide legislation. A overseas coverage that doesn’t actively demand an finish to all violence in Gaza undermines these obligations and leaves the Philippines open to accusations that it’s complicit in Israel’s human rights violations and alleged struggle crimes in Gaza.
Displaying blind help for Israel can be opposite to the Philippine authorities’s personal long-term pursuits.
The Philippines has first-hand information of the perils of getting a militarily and economically highly effective neighbour that routinely disregards worldwide legislation and tries to increase into the territories of surrounding smaller states. The Philippines has lengthy been concerned in territorial disputes with China and has had confrontations with Chinese language ships over such points as not too long ago as this week.
Supporting violators of worldwide legal guidelines and norms weakens the Philippines’ ethical stance on the worldwide stage and its requires condemnation of China’s territorial aggression within the South China/West Philippines Sea. The Philippines can’t count on the worldwide group to assist it confront violations of worldwide legislation by a neighbouring state whereas it’s actively lending its help to related violations by one other nation.
Subsequently, for causes starting from ethical obligation to self-interest, the Philippines ought to revise its insurance policies on Israel, finish its unwavering help in the direction of the Israeli authorities and, most significantly, undertake a overseas coverage that recognises and respects the human rights of all peoples, together with the Palestinians. The Philippines should acknowledge that it’s incorrect to kill civilians, whether or not they’re Israelis or Palestinians, no ifs, ands or buts.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.