0:00 This is a really, really big deal right now, especially to Filipinos. There is a place called Siargao and it's a small island on the eastern area of Philippines. Beautiful, beautiful place. It's like a surfer a getaway. Lots of tourism is coming to this area. Super great looking beaches. It's you could scooter around the entire thing in less than a day. >> Woah. Wow. >> And right now they're experiencing a very interesting problem that's been happening for quite a while, but now it's getting public. So apparently a few years ago they had received really heavy spike of tourism from Israel. And it was noted that most of the people that were going there were like IDF soldiers that were on leave or on vacation or you know, they would just go there to decompress from all the
0:50 shooting, from all the whatever they're up to, yeah. >> Like, oh, my fingers. >> Yeah, and then it started to get really, really thick out there where all of a sudden there's like a whole bunch of Israelis. Like, where are these guys coming from? And then they just started, you know, opening businesses up, like moving into places. >> Are they expats now? Like they're like, you know what? I'm no longer Israeli. I'm just going to be Filipino. >> Apparently the way it's explained by this one particular person is that a lot of them are getting in there on tourist visas and they're just not leaving. >> So they're illegal immigrants. >> So they're settling. >> Yeah. >> And and then so August 2023 some of those guys opened up a Chabad community center in the town that everyone claims they didn't have a permit to do that. >> What is Chabad? >> It's like the community center for Jews. >> Oh word, okay. >> You see it all the time when you know, we got one in our neighborhood. >> I know what you're talking about. Yeah.
1:40 >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically the Filipinos in the area were claiming that hey, they weren't allowed to do that. Now it's like a place that advertises for other Israelis to come to the island. They throw late night parties and it it has marketing material that states it's a retreat for soldiers. And it's like marketed as a place for IDF to come blow off steam. They throw raves and parties and uh >> And nothing's been licensed or permitted or anything. >> It's hard to say because it even though like uh at least in the news reports people are saying they're not. But I don't know. I don't I I wouldn't be able to verify myself. >> Are the locals liking this or loving this? >> They're not liking this. >> I don't think any locals like tourists. >> There was a Facebook group of all the Siargao business owners basically like you know talking about the grievances about what's happening and in there um
2:31 all the reports you know are like detailed out. There's a bunch of growing incidents, threats on business owners, illegal construction. Um so the biggest gripe and this is something that other tourists experience when they go there that the Israelis that are there are really rude and mean and causing problems. >> They got banned in Thailand because of something like this. >> They got banned? >> Who? IDF soldiers? >> Yeah, like Southeast Asia they've they like they've been having like a lot of tension with uh Israeli travelers. It could be IDF soldiers. I don't know. But same kind of issue right? They're just like their culture is so different. They're hell of ████ rude. Like I don't know what's going on and then but it it's got to the point where Thailand was like all right no more. >> No more what? What So what did they do? >> I don't know if they banned the actual country.
3:21 >> Like their passport can't go through now? >> Well like a lot of there's like there's like a lot of I I I don't read the whole thing. I just read a BuzzFeed headline. >> [laughter] >> So like also there's heavy attacks on like uh the LGBT community out there says that they're usually like targeted when you know these guys see them. >> Which Philippines is very like open to. >> Yeah, they have very openly like uh you know it's not the no problem with that. It's cool if you're gay. And there was an attack on a DJ because he had a Palestine flag on his laptop. Uh one restaurant had a Palestinian flag hanging, and uh these masked men who whoever they are, decided to come back at night and they broke in and tore the restaurant up and beat up the owners. And and that's not something that's like anecdotal. Like these owners actually had an interview and they were all messed up. >> Sounds like you have an idea of who the who the men were.
4:12 >> Those dang Filipinos. >> Yeah, damn other Filipinos in-fighting. Yeah, so then and then there's this girl named Alexis Gemera who um she recorded video of like a a confrontation she had with some of these guys. And they were just yelling uh we kill all of Palestine at them and started throwing rocks at them. >> Wow. >> Which is completely nonsensical. And those tourists fled the island before the police could investigate them. When the issue blew up like really big on social media and like uh globally people started finding out about it, the members of the Israeli consulate of the Philippines held a town meeting in Manila, which didn't have any of the Shargao officials present. >> Yeah. >> Uh but there were uh Shargao like residents uh at this meeting. And at the meeting they had found out that there was a planned area on the island that was um and I don't think they meant to find
5:02 this out. I think they discovered this at the meeting. That there was a planned area that was to be called Little Israel. >> OH, WOW. >> And it was never a thing the community uh knew anything about. They didn't they didn't vote on anything. It it just here it is. And uh there's a widespread report of like Israeli tourists that are, you know, attempting to settle like it like we're saying dining and dashing is a big thing for some reason. Apparently the the way that they're talking about it in the business uh Facebook is that they'll come in and they'll either they'll sit down and not buy anything or they'll they'll dine and then as soon as it gets really busy they just like bounce. >> Well, don't Jews like to save money? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, and and and one of the biggest of offenses of all is and then this is something that's been reported by multiple Filipinos on the island is that uh the Israelis there refer to them as
5:53 slaves. >> Oh. >> Like straight up slaves, yeah. >> crazy. But, you know what's even more ████ up? That's just like 20 cents a meal. It's not even that much. >> Yeah, but it's everything to them, you know, the people selling it, right? >> So, it's like you're trying to save 20, 40 cents? That's ████ crazy. >> What seems like the overall perspective seems like like we're coming here, these guys are beneath us, we could do whatever the ████ we want. >> it seems like low-key colonialism. >> And it's happened, you know, it's not it's not like completely outlandish to think that that's what's going on here. Uh the biggest problem that they're having now is that now that everybody knows this is uh you know, a big issue, uh there's a touchiness about it because, you know, Israel's a heavy ally with the United States, who is an ally
6:44 with Philippines. So, it almost feels like it's it's falling on deaf ears, like all their complaints kind of just go in a circle, and they're just like, "Oh, sorry. You know, you can't really do anything about that." And a lot of them just feel like there's no hope, and they just are watching their like they literally are saying on this on the news, like, "Hey, we've been here centuries, and we're just watching this happen. We're like and people are telling us that we're imagining it." >> Yeah. >> literally watching parts of their island just get taken up by people who make exclusive events that don't allow the locals to attend, kind of like Bali. You know how they had that Bali Run Club where it was like only uh tourists can be in it or or outsiders. It was only for outsiders. So, if you had a Bali area code or you had a last name that was Thai, it the app automatically didn't let you join. And they and they had to dismantle it because you just you like you can't do that ████ Yeah. So, it's like they're
7:35 experiencing sort of a similar thing. Yeah. >> But, the difference between like Indonesia and the Philippines is Indonesia doesn't play when when um let's say you get caught with drugs or like you do something to disrespect their government, they'll be like, "Nah, we're killing you, right?" >> You're smoked. >> But then the Philippines acts more like um kind of like a underground market where like there's a lot of dark stuff happening, but the government kind of looks the other way if they're getting paid off. >> Oh, it's the corruption's horrible, yeah. >> Yeah, versus the Indonesians are more like, "Oh, you want to ████ around in my country? Then you're all dying." And then it's it's much more of a crazier control versus like I think Philippines have a lot more um What do you call it? Like different >> Like gray area? >> controlling different areas.
8:25 >> Well, this is like a rural basically like small island. >> Yeah, and as long as certain people are getting paid off, that's why it's allowed to happen. Or else like if you think about the government, they'll be like, "Hell no, I'm not going to let another ████ state move into me." >> Right. >> They'll they'll shut that ████ down quick. >> Well, also the allyship is the hardest hurdle. It's almost harder to fight your allies than it is your enemies, right? >> Technically it's the US, right? But they're moving in on your territory. >> That's like when you're telling your mom, you're like, "Uncle's been touching me." And then your mom's like, "What are you talking about? Your uncle doesn't doesn't do that kind of stuff. You're just imagining that s███." >> That's what it feels like here. Actually, on top of that though, there's hell of pirates. There's so many islands, there's hell of pirate I don't think they have the infrastructure to actually regulate in the same way. Cuz uh Filipino pirates with like one eye No, I mean like they they basically
9:16 control whole entire islands and then they do uh smuggling and ████ >> Maybe they need to report them to the pirates and they can come and get their back. >> They don't have a pirate problem here. This is it's just a resort island and they're just very uh they're like just a peaceful little town. >> How'd they protect themselves from the pirates for so long? >> I don't [laughter] know. >> So my uh like a good friend of mine, his mom owns a hotel owns a hotel in Siargao. >> In Siargao? >> Yeah, and then they were they were they've been telling me for years to go >> So, you've heard about this before? >> No, but then >> go? >> But like how beautiful it is? >> Yeah, like oh, the hotel is nice. It's like very resort. But he told me like 2 years ago the hotel like everyone was struggling. Like people weren't coming a lot. So, I don't know if like this is a bad thing, but maybe if like most of them if they're paying, I guess. If they're ████ up, then that's probably >> bad. Way to go against the tide. I like
10:07 it. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, a lot of people are are really uh there's a lot of tourism there. But, you know, this doesn't count as tourism when people are going in there not paying for stuff. You know, making making their own ████ places. That's so ████ up. >> Little Israel is crazy. Little Israel is crazy. That is crazy. >> But when it's like unsanctioned like that, that's crazy. >> And of course like and these are you know, this is first hand information from the people there who are posting it. Of obviously when this stuff comes out, it's going to be so easily debunked when someone else just says, "Nah, that's not true." You know what I mean? "Nah, there's no That doesn't exist. There's no Little Israel." You know, like it's so the I guess the voice from the outside is so overpowering the residents cuz they're they're really nobody like in the global scale. >> They're just locals, yeah. >> scale. Yeah, exactly. >> They just want to ████ pick coconuts and hang. >> Yeah, so that's why they feel so
10:57 powerless that this is They're just going to have to watch it spread. >> Cuz technically their government is not doing ████ >> They're not and then and it's that That's kind of the crazy thing about it even if it was even if they didn't have to work with the you know, the the trickiness of the United States-Israel bond that has now merged our military intelligence, which is insane that you know, to think. Philippines might itself is very hard to navigate from the corruption alone. You know, like money's going to talk louder than any any kind of complaint a resident has. >> What if they set up a uh Palestinian soldier a and have a lots of marketing materials. You need to blow off some steam. Coming out over here. On the same island? >> Yeah, and you blow and you have the and you have it right across the street from the other one. >> There I watched this one interview that was that actually
11:47 really hurts cuz she's like saying, "Hey, you know, we're a little island here. We can't even handle the I guess what she was saying is that because the soldiers are there to blow off steam. She's like, "We can't handle that kind of mental trauma because they don't act normal." So, she's like, "We don't even have an infrastructure to deal with mental health. They don't even have that. So, it's like if people are out there and and whatever, if they're just like being crazy or rowdy and they want to blame the fact that no, I just served in the military and I'm you know, they're wacky, there's nothing they can really do. They don't even have enough cops. >> Yeah, cuz it could be like just like family businesses and if you have a guy at the bar that's like drinking and like slamming the table or like going having a epic >> There's no police. >> Yeah, you're like, "F███, what do you do?" >> And I know like that to them like they're they're they're considering like yeah, maybe there are graceful ways to
12:38 handle those kinds of things, but they don't have that structure. They're not like America where okay, we'll send out a mental health counselor to this situation. >> But when they want to blow off some steam, don't they just go to Gaza? >> That's true. They're already doing that. >> All the time. >> Yeah, I guess so. >> They'd be blowing that ████ up. >> Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. You got a point. Uh yeah, let us know in the comments if you've heard about this. >> [laughter] >> That transition? >> Yeah. It's a very touchy story. I'm sure you guys if you you know, if you're following Asian pages, it's all over those, but I'm not seeing it anywhere else. So, it feels a little bit scary that you know, I'm sure American publications are going to pass on this. So, >> Well, I'm glad we're sharing the news. >> Yeah, if you guys have heard about any of this, let us know in the comments below what you think of it all.
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