Senator Imee Marcos’ statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

This conflict is not just days-old but centuries-deep. The struggles of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples deserve equal regard and are beyond the simplistic narrative of good versus evil.

This will be another drawn-out war of global proportions, with no certainty of prompt and peaceful resolution. The foreign policy position we take today will have long-term consequences. Its primary concern should be the safety of nearly 25,000 overseas Filipino workers and the many Filipino tourists and pilgrims now in Israel and of more than two million Filipinos throughout the Middle East and North Africa who may continue earning a living there in years to come.

Our distance from the main arena of conflict will not insulate us from violence. As an ally of the United States, which has committed military support to Israel, we risk retaliatory attacks from militant Hamas sympathizers that a protracted war will likely provoke.

We import practically all of our oil supply from the Middle East. Despite the recent assurance of six OPEC countries to support market stability, we remain vulnerable to the winds of geopolitics.

Our government has a long, complex, and arduous task ahead. May its foreign policy decisions truly uphold Filipino interests now and in the future, informed by a keen sense of current events and the lessons of history.