|
Trending Topics
|
Philippine President Duterte Thanks Netanyahu for Israel's "Critical Help" in Ending ISIS Siege of Marawi
(GMA News-Philippines) Virgil Lopez - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday in Jerusalem thanked Israel for help he deemed "critical" in defeating Islamic State-inspired rebels that laid siege to Marawi City last year. [Militants seeking to establish a caliphate for the Islamic State in Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur province, fought a 5-month urban battle with Philippine government security forces from May to October 2017.] "Mr. Prime Minister, I can only thank you so much especially for the critical help that you have extended my country in a time when we needed it most." Duterte declined to name the "very substantial and crucial" equipment, but said Sunday during a meeting with the Filipino community in Israel that Israel provided "most of the intelligence gadgets that we used to win the Marawi siege." Duterte also hailed the "kindness and benevolence" of Israel especially in hosting some 28,000 Filipinos, mostly working as caregivers. "They have been very happy working here," he said. Duterte noted that Philippine President Manuel Quezon offered shelter to 1,300 Jews escaping the Holocaust in Europe in 1937. The Philippines was also the only Asian state that voted for the UN Partition Plan in 1947 that paved the way for the creation of the State of Israel. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1957.