They were almost certainly visiting to join thousands of other Christians for the annual "Feast of Tabernacles" parade and celebration in Jerusalem held during Sukkot every year.
The Filipino delegation probably had no idea that the Palestinians were antisemitic when they put up these decorations. After all, how much media coverage is there of systemic Palestinian hate of Jews? They are only anti-Zionist, right?
Here's what happened.
Shehab News Agency tweeted a video of the hall.
Rumors started flying that the hotel was hosting Israelis for a normalization conference.
Elias al-Arja, the owner of Bethlehem Hotel, told a Palestinian radio station, “I was surprised to see that they installed the Star of David. I removed it and told them that they are not permitted to hold the conference in my hotel. I don’t want any problems....We don’t allow Jews to come here."
A group of angry armed Palestinians threatened the hotel and reportedly shut it down.
Gunmen shot bullets towards the hotel; luckily no one was injured.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Tourism announced on Facebook that it closed the meeting hall and launched an investigation into how this terrible thing might have happened.
Needless to say, this is not "anti-Zionism." This is pure hatred of Jews and anything peripherally associated with Jews.
No matter how much the Palestinians insist that they have nothing against Judaism, only Zionism, this incident - the anger shown, the hate that surrounded all aspects of the incident - proves what everyone knows but few are willing to say out loud:
Palestinians don't hate Jews because of Israel, they hate Israel because of Jews.
