Duterte Says Sorry To Jews

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that he was sorry for the remark he made, which alluded his campaign against illegal drugs to the genocide of Adolf Hitler.

Speaking before a crowd at the 37th MassKara Festival in Bacolod City, Sunday, Duterte said: “I apologized profoundly and deeply to the Jewish community. (It was) never my intention.”

He added that "there was never an intention on my part to derogate the memory of six million Jews murdered by the Germans."

He said that his critics are saying that he is like Hitler, who is a killer. “So I said, okay fine, I'm Duterte, I'm a killer," he said.

He stressed: "I was criticized using Hitler, comparing to me, but I was very empathic that I will kill the three million (drug suspects)," as he admitted that there was "a bad taste in the mouth" when he said it.

He added: “I don't really want you to think that I tinker the memory (of the Jews).”

In a speech at Davao City on Friday, Duterte said that “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them.”

"If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have (me). 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 added.

Duterte's reference to Hitler sparked negative reactions from the international community.

The German government called it “unacceptable” while US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter found Duterte’s remarks as “deeply troubling.”

The palace said that the president only addressed the comparison made between him and Hitler.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said: “The President’s reference to the slaughter was an oblique deflection of the way he has been pictured as a mass murderer, a Hitler, a label he rejects. He likewise draws an oblique conclusion that while the Holocaust was an attempt to exterminate the future generations of Jews, the so-called extra-judicial killings, wrongly attributed to him, will nevertheless result in the salvation of the next generation of Filipinos.”

Source: Sunstar