Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss on Monday said his country remained safe for Filipinos amid the escalating tension with Iran.
In a virtual presser, Fluss said the government of Israel is committed to keeping its citizens and foreign residents, including overseas Filipino workers, safe.
“Israel is determined to keep Israelis and foreigners living in Israel safe.
You have seen that 99 percent of the attack were intercepted. There was one person who was injured in this enormous attack,” he said, referring to the retaliatory attack by Iran on Israel on Saturday.
“I think it says it all that we are supplying the relevant safe security measures. It is important to say that until now, we have not seen a real wave of OFWs leaving Israel. I think the OFWs are feeling safe and as part of our families and they are also briefed on how to protect themselves in case of an attack. it seems that they feel comfortable and safe in Israel,” he added.
On Saturday, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s deadly bombing of its consulate in Syria.
Fluss backed Philippine Ambassador to Israel Pedro Laylo Jr.’s earlier assessment that there was no need to raise the alert level in the Middle Eastern country.
“I think it’s exactly also my message. We have seen that in this latest attack, nothing was able to penetrate into Israel and no Israeli civilians, as I have said, there was one person injured,” he said.
“With such a massive attack, I think it shows that Israel has in place the different systems to protect the state, to protect Israeli citizens, and to protect anybody who is visiting, and of course to protect OFWs and foreign diplomats,” he said.
He continued: “The Israeli economy and Israeli society, everything is fully functioning.”
The ambassador, however, said he would respect the decision of the Philippine government with regard to the OFWs.
“But at the end of the day, I fully respect the decision of a sovereign country on how to approach its own citizens,” he said.
The Philippine government, through the DFA, placed Israel under Alert Level 2 following the 7 October surprise cross-border attack by the Islamic extremist group Hamas on Israel.
Iran exposed
Fluss called on the international community, including the Philippines, to condemn what he described as the continuation of the 7 October attack by Hamas.
“We do, as the state of Israel, expect to see the international community condemn the Iranian operation,” he said.
“This again exposes, there’s no doubt or no question, it exposes Iran as the main reason of instability in the Middle East,” he added.
Hamas, which is in control of the war-torn Gaza Strip, is supported by Iran.
Meanwhile, Fluss said Israel has condemned Iran’s seizure of the cargo ship MSC Aries in the Gulf of Oman, which has four Filipino seafarers on board.
“It is important to mention that they also seized the cargo ship MSC Aries. As we all know, Filipino seafarers are on board. So they are also threatening the freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers,” he said.
“Israel condemns all terror attacks and all attacks against freedom, democracy, and liberalism in the world,” he added.
The ambassador, without giving specifics, said: “Israel is defending itself against evil forces which are calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
“What we saw last Saturday night is a continuation of the October 7th massacre by Hamas, which is an Iranian proxy, and the challenges Israel is facing in this region have to be understood by the international community,” he said.
“We expect to see the international community condemn Iran and promote sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps,” he added.
