[News] Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, Who Likened Himself to Hitler, Welcomed in Israel for Arms Deals

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Rodrigo-Duterte-Who-Likened-Himself-to-Hitler-Welcomed-in-Israel-for-Arms-Deals-20180902-0004.html 



  Rodrigo Duterte, Who Likened Himself to Hitler, Welcomed in Israel for
  Arms Deals

September 2, 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------


      The Philippines' President said he himself would be “happy to
      slaughter” drug addicts on the scale of the Nazi leader's Jewish
      genocide.

Rodrigo Duterte makes the first visit to Israel by a president of the 
Philippines Sunday to shop for weapons as his detractors point to his 
previous comments liking his war on drug addicts to the Nazi genocide of 
Jewish people.

Israel sees the four-day tour by Duterte and his top ministers as a 
chance to thank Manila for taking in Jews during the Holocaust and 
backing the Israeli independence campaign that followed.

Tourism, labor and defense deals are also on the agenda, cementing 
relationships between the Asian power and Israel, both historical U.S. 
allies.

Yet Israel's Government Press Office has said most of the visit will be 
closed to the media, an apparent precaution against faux pas by a 
president whose two-fisted crime-fighting tactics and rhetoric have 
raised hackles at home and abroad.

Some Israeli pundits have recoiled at his planned attendance at 
Holocaust commemorations.

In 2016, in a bungled reference to an opponent’s remark that his rise 
could be like that of Adolf Hitler, Duterte said he himself would be 
“happy to slaughter” drug addicts on the scale of the Nazi leader's 
Jewish genocide.

While Duterte apologized for that, he has been dogged by accusations 
from activists that thousands of killings in his ongoing war on drugs 
were executions, which he rejects, and is rebuked by women’s groups for 
remarks that make light of rape.

In June, Duterte called God “stupid” and has lashed out repeatedly at 
the Catholic church, deeming it hypocritical. His visit will include 
sightseeing in Jerusalem's walled Old City, which houses major 
Christian, Jewish and Muslim shrines.

"There's just no knowing what he will say from one moment to the next, 
so both sides want to keep this (Israel) visit as low-key as possible," 
one official involved in the planning, and who asked not to be 
identified by name or nationality, told Reuters.

Duterte wants to improve security cooperation with Israel, which has 
sold the Philippines three radar systems and 100 armored vehicles, and 
which Manila is now eyeing for an aircraft deal. According to Israeli 
government data, exports to the Philippines were worth US$143 million 
last year.

Duterte arrives in Israel on Sunday and on Wednesday departs for 
neighboring Jordan.

-- 
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