President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's visit to Israel, the first ever for a Filipino president since establishment of formal ties in 1967, on the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ill advised and at the very least untimely for the following reasons:

1. The Israeli government has engaged in well documented brutal repression of Palestinian Muslims and Christians' human rights since four (4) decades ago and has killed over 50 and injured more than 1300 protesters in the latest peaceful “March of Return”in the Gaza Strip.
2. The visit will be taken as an opportunity by the Israelis as the Philippine's implied acceptance and tacit approval of the almost daily abuse that Palestinian men, women and children go through as they struggle to live in their remaining lands separated by meandering apartheid walls built by Israeli illegal occupiers/settlers..
3. This will ultimately impact negatively on the sensibilities of our Muslim brothers and sisters in Mindanao and elsewhere who have just recently and overwhelmingly welcomed the government's peaceful developmental initiatives with the signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

By cancelling the planned visit on September 2 to 5, 2018, a situation whereby our President might be used could be avoided. Let us promote peace with integrity and justice. No to an Israeli visit by our President until the rights of our Muslim as well as Christian brethren in Palestine are respected.