Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday appeared to liken himself to Adolf Hitler and said he would “be happy” to exterminate 3 million drug users and peddlers in the country.
His comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the US, which will add to pressure on the US government to take a tougher line with the Philippine leader.
Duterte recently insulted US President Barack Obama and in a series of remarks he has undermined the previously close relationship between Manila and Washington.
Photo: AP
In a speech on his arrival in Davao City after a visit to Vietnam, Duterte told reporters that he had been “portrayed to be a cousin of Hitler” by critics.
Noting that Hitler had murdered millions of Jews, Duterte said: “There are 3 million drug addicts [in the Philippines]. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
He said: “If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have,” before pausing and pointing to himself.
“You know my victims. I would like [them] to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition,” he said.
Duterte was voted into office in May on the back of a vow to end drugs and corruption in the country of 100 million people. He took office on June 30 and more than 3,100 people have been killed since then, mostly alleged drug users and dealers, in police operations and in alleged vigilante killings.
His comments were condemned by Jewish groups.
Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate project, called them “outrageous.”
“Duterte owes the victims [of the Holocaust] an apology for his disgusting rhetoric,” Wiesenthal said.
The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group based in the US, said Duterte’s comments were “shocking for their tone-deafness.”
“The comparison of drug users and dealers to Holocaust victims is inappropriate and deeply offensive,” said Todd Gutnick, the group’s director of communications. “It is baffling why any leader would want to model himself after such a monster.”
Two days before the Philippines election, outgoing Philippine president Benigno Aquino III had warned that Duterte’s rising popularity was akin to that of Hitler in the 1920s and 1930s.
“I hope we learn the lessons of history,” Aquino said in widely reported remarks. “We should remember how Hitler came to power.”
Duterte has been scathing about criticism of his anti-drugs campaign and has insulted the UN and the EU, as well as Obama, at various times in recent weeks.
Reacting to critical comments yesterday on his war on drugs by US Senators Patrick Leahy and Benjamin Cardin, Duterte said: “Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world. Do not be the policeman because you do not have the eligibility to do that in my country.”
He also reiterated there will be no annual war games between the Philippines and the US until the end of his six-year term, placing the longstanding alliance under a cloud of doubt. It also might make Washington’s strategy of rebalancing its military focus toward Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China more difficult to achieve.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of