MANILA — The Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association (PPFA) has called on Filipino journalists to avoid what it described as “whitewashing genocide,” raising concern over a recent Israel-sponsored trip participated in by 16 members of the local press.

In an open letter released this week, the group said the visit takes place “at a time when the world witnesses an unprecedented genocide and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza—tens of thousands killed, entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, and basic survival cut off under siege.”

“This trip raises difficult but necessary questions. What stories will be told, and whose voices will be amplified?” PPFA said.

The group warned that such visits “cannot be seen in isolation” but as part of “broader acts of intellectual and cultural complicity, where institutions normalize ties with Israel while turning a blind eye to its systematic brutality.”

“To engage as if everything were ‘business as usual’ with an apartheid state carrying out the most documented genocide of our time is not neutrality—it is complicity, both moral and intellectual,” it added.

PPFA cited figures stating that “over 270 journalists have been killed by the Israel Occupation Forces in Gaza since 2023—making this the deadliest war for the press since World War II and the Vietnam War.” Among them, it noted, were Al Jazeera correspondents who “continued reporting under fire until their deaths, even as media offices were deliberately bombed.”

The group also linked the issue to the Philippines’ domestic context, pointing out that “journalists here who dare to expose corruption, human rights abuses, violations of international humanitarian law, and bombings in the countryside often face harassment, red-tagging, trumped-up charges, or even death.”

It further criticized the Marcos administration for expanding military and trade ties with Israel, citing recent acquisitions of missile systems, drones, and attack craft from Israeli firms.

“To expand military and trade cooperation while a genocide unfolds is not neutrality—it is participation,” PPFA said. “And journalists, whose calling is to expose injustice, cannot afford to ignore this reality.”

The association urged Filipino journalists to “broaden their coverage” and amplify the voices of Gaza’s civilians.

“Filipino journalists have stood firm against dictatorship, censorship, and repression. Today, we ask them to bring that same commitment to the global stage. In Gaza, the truth is under attack—and it needs messengers brave enough to carry it,” PPFA said.