Several groups in Negros Occidental have condemend the provincial government’s welcome of Israel Embassy ambassador Ilan Fluss last Monday, June 3, 2024. Fluss was welcomed by Governor Eugenio Lacson and also met Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer.
Negrenses for Palestine, in a statement released the following day, June 4, stated they “strongly condemn” the ambassador’s visit.
Freedom from Colonization – Negros, in a statement released on June 5, said, “This is not something that we Negrosanons take lightly, especially in an island that has witnessed decades upon decades of bloodshed and massacres in the hands of colonizers.”
Bayan Negros, on June 6, also released a statement of condemnation, declaring, “There is no use appealing to the ‘moral conscience’ of these leaders, as if shaking hands with the Israeli ambassador was merely an act of diplomacy. These leaders, including Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer and Bacolod City Mayor Albee Benitez, conscientiously approve of the bombings and the murder of our own fellow Negrenses in the name of maintaining the bloody status quo of landlessness and subservience to US interests.”
Bayan also cited Lacson’s role as chair of Regional Peace and Order Council in Western Visayas similar to Israel’s “government equipped by United States arms to displace, bomb, and massacre whole communities in the guise of fighting off ‘rebels’.”
During his visit, Fluss also attended a Hybrid Symposium on Israeli Innovations for Sustainable Agriculture in Bacolod City, according to the provincial government’s official Facebook page.
Bayan Negros found this “deeply sinister”, adding, “Who are [Israel] to discuss with our local officials on the subject, other than to speak of so-called ‘innovations’ on waging war in their conquest for land and resources?”
Freedom from Colonization – Negros added, “We hold firm that there is no sustainable agriculture without the centering of indigent bodies, that it is impossible without decolonization — and decolonization means land back.”
“We should join the broad international community in holding Israel accountable for its actions, demanding an immediate end to its military offensives and full and safe access for Palestinians to humanitarian aid,” said Negrenses for Palestine.
“The biggest expression of our solidarity with the Palestinian people as Negrenses is to weaken US hegemony in our province and our country. We must become actively part of the broader mass movement that struggles toward genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization – the triumph of which is a big stake at the heart of the Empire. As we call on the immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, we must also call to stop the bombings and an end to the militarization of rural communities in Negros,” Bayan Negros concluded.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been attacking the Gaza Strip, killing at an average rate of 250 people a day. Palestinians have been forced into displacement camps, such as the one in Rafah, which was recently assaulted with IDF airstrikes on May 26, 2024, killing at least 45 people. ##
Paghimutad 