Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new level Friday, comparing it to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts.

Duterte issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users early Friday on returning to his hometown in southern Davao city after visiting Vietnam, where he discussed his anti-drug campaign with Vietnamese leaders and ways for their governments to fight transnational crimes, including illegal drugs.

Duterte has said his public death threats against drug suspects are designed to scare them to stop selling drugs and to discourage would-be users. But his latest remarks took that crime-busting approach to a different level.

He said he had been “portrayed or pictured to be a cousin of Hitler,” without elaborating.

Moments later he said, “Hitler massacred 3 million Jews ... there’s 3 million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

He was referring to a Philippine government estimate of the number of drug addicts in the country. Historians say 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and during World War II.

During the presidential election campaign earlier this year and during the three months he has held office, the tough-talking Duterte has threatened to drown drug suspects to fatten the fish in Manila Bay. He also threatened to execute drug traffickers by hanging – because he didn’t want to waste electricity on them – until their heads were severed from their bodies.

While Hitler’s victims were innocent people, Duterte said his targets are “all criminals” and that getting rid of them would “finish the (drug) problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”

Germany’s government slammed Duterte’s comments as unacceptable, and called in the Philippine ambassador to the Foreign Ministry over the matter.

“It is impossible to make any comparison to the unique atrocities of the Shoah and Holocaust,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer in Berlin.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said Duterte’s remarks were “revolting” and demanded that he retract them and apologize.

“Drug abuse is a serious issue. But what President Duterte said is not only profoundly inhumane, but it demonstrates an appalling disrespect for human life that is truly heartbreaking for the democratically elected leader of a great country,” Lauder said in a statement issued from Jerusalem, where he was attending the funeral of former Israeli leader Shimon Peres.

Philippine Rep. Teodoro Baguilat wondered if the president was suggesting that “it’s open season now for all addicts, no more rehabilitation, just kill them systematically like what the Nazis did with the Jews.” He expressed fears that Jewish businesspeople might boycott the Philippines.

Also critical was Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch, who said it was baffling why anyone would want to compare themselves to “one of the largest mass murderers in human history.”

Robertson said that in today’s context, Hitler would be accused of crimes against humanity.

“Is that what Duterte wants? Does he want to be sent to the international criminal court? Because he’s working his way there,” Robertson said.

Amnesty International said Duterte “has sunk to new depths” and urged governments around the world to condemn his “extremely dangerous outburst.”

A spokesman for Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem-based world centre for Holocaust research and commemoration, declined to comment on Duterte’s remarks.

Duterte’s campaign promise to end corruption and crime, especially illegal drugs, within six months of taking office on June 30 carried him to an overwhelming victory in May’s presidential election.

Since the vote, more than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed and nearly 700,000 others have surrendered in his crackdown. Duterte has asked for a six-month extension to finish the job.

His supporters and many Filipinos exasperated with widespread crime have welcomed his tough approach, but a growing number of critics, including U.N. officials, the European Union and the United States, have voiced concerns over the widespread killings and human rights violations.

He reacted Friday by calling critics from the European Union a “group of idiots in the purest form.”

Duterte lashed out at the U.S., his country’s longtime treaty ally, and the E.U. for finding fault with his methods, saying European countries were hypocrites for not doing enough to help the large numbers of refugees fleeing from the violence in the Middle East.

“There are migrants escaping from the Middle East. You allow them to rot and then you’re worried about the deaths of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 (people in the Philippines),” he said. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appeared to liken himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Friday and said he would "be happy" to exterminate three million drug users and peddlers in the country.

His comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the United States, which could add to pressure on the U.S. government to take a tougher line with the Philippines leader.

Duterte recently insulted President Barack Obama and in a number of remarks he has undermined the previously close relationship between Manila and Washington.

In a rambling 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 three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them.

"If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...," he said, 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."

Duterte was voted to power in a May election 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 over 3,100 people have been killed since then, mostly alleged drug users and dealers, in police operations and vigilante killings.

Rabbi 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," Cooper said.

The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group based in the United States, 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."

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that any use of "the Holocaust and the suffering of the Holocaust in comparison to anything else, frankly, is inappropriate and needs to be rejected."

He said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had made clear that the fight against illegal drugs must be done "in accordance with human rights standards, with international law, with a focus on the users and rehabilitation."

While the Obama administration has criticized Duterte over the extra-judicial killings, U.S. officials offered no immediate condemnation of his latest comments and instead stuck to a strategy of stressing long-standing ties with Manila.

"We continue to focus on our broad relationship with the Philippines and will work together in the many areas of mutual interest," a White House official said when asked about Duterte's Hitler comments.

Two days before the Philippines election, outgoing President Benigno Aquino 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 United Nations and the European Union, as well as Obama, at various times in recent weeks.

On Friday, reacting to critical comments on his war on drugs by U.S. 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 United States until the end of his six-year term, placing the longstanding alliance under a cloud of doubt. It also may make Washington's strategy of rebalancing its military focus towards Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China much more difficult to achieve.

Still, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, speaking before the latest remarks from Duterte, said Washington had an "ironclad" alliance with Manila.

A senior U.S. defense official, also speaking earlier, told reporters that the United States had a long enduring relationship with the Philippines regardless of who was president.

Another U.S. defense official pointed to participation by the USS Germantown in an amphibious exercise with the Philippines military on Friday as a sign that military ties remained unaffected by Duterte’s latest comments.

Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said the U.S-Philippines alliance was not necessarily at risk, but Washington could seek to focus on ties elsewhere in the region.

"We are all in some sense becoming, by necessity, desensitized to Duterte's language," he said.

"Diplomatically, the U.S. would say they'll continue to work with him and the alliance is strong. But it's whether they'll continue to strengthen that alliance or not." </s> MANILA - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appeared to liken himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Friday and said he would "be happy" to exterminate three million drug users and peddlers in the country.

His comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the United States, which will add to pressure on the U.S. government to take a tougher line with the Philippines leader. Duterte recently insulted President Barack Obama and in a series of remarks he has undermined the previously close relationship between Manila and Washington.

In a rambling 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 three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them.

"If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have...," he said, 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."

Duterte was voted to power in a May election 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 over 3,100 people have been killed since then, mostly alleged drug users and dealers, in police operations and in vigilante killings.

His comments were quickly condemned by Jewish groups.

Rabbi 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."

The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group based in the United States, 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 President Benigno Aquino 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 United Nations and the European Union, as well as Obama, at various times in recent weeks.

On Friday, reacting to critical comments on his war on drugs by U.S. 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 United States until the end of his six-year term, placing the longstanding alliance under a cloud of doubt. It also may make Washington's strategy of rebalancing its military focus towards Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China much more difficult to achieve.

Still, U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter, speaking before the latest remarks from Duterte, said Washington had an "ironclad" alliance with Manila.

A senior U.S. defense official, also speaking earlier, told reporters that the United States had a long enduring relationship with the Philippines regardless of who was president.

"It's going to continue to survive based on what we think are strong U.S.-Philippines common security interests, so we’ll be engaging President Duterte further," the official said.

Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said the U.S-Philippines alliance was not necessarily at risk, but Washington could seek to focus on ties elsewhere in the region.

"We are all in some sense becoming, by necessity, desensitized to Duterte's language," he said.

"Diplomatically, the U.S. would say they'll continue to work with him and the alliance is strong. But it's whether they'll continue to strengthen that alliance or not." </s> PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday brushed aside the possibility of being hauled into international courts over mounting deaths in his war against illegal drugs, daring his critics to send him to jail for it.

But Duterte, in his National Heroes’ Day speech, pointed out that he should not be compared with the murderous Islamic State or Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who are accused of various atrocities and crimes against humanity.

“Did I kill a child? Did I drop bombs like Assad and those other idiots? Did I burn women who refuse to have sex?” the President said at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig.

“I will take full legal responsibility. I will be happy to join them in prison. I will not ask for a special room. I’d just ask for a bed, foam, and something to read. Do not scare me with [these cases of]genocide,” he said.

Duterte again argued that his war against the illegal drug trade would be for the “law-abiding, God-fearing citizens to be comfortable, period, that they are not molested, their children can walk the streets and come home safe and sound.”

Last week, the Philippine National Police told a Senate investigation 756 drug suspects have been killed in police operations nationwide. A total of 1,160 deaths were also recorded “outside police operations,” likely perpetrated by vigilantes or drug syndicates out to cover their tracks.

On August 18, UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and Dainius Pūras called on the Philippine government to stop the wave of killings of people linked to illegal drugs, saying that going after drug traders won’t exempt “state actors” from international legal obligations.

Callamard said Duterte’s supposed directives to kill drug suspects and drug users who don’t surrender were “irresponsible in the extreme and amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law.”

 “It is effectively a license to kill,” she said.

Bounty

 Duterte ignored the rapporteurs’ warning against encouraging impunity, and threatened to put a P2-million bounty on policemen involved in the illegal drug trade.

He even urged law enforcers to rat on their colleagues.

“I consider the fight against drugs a war. I am declaring war. It has infected every nook and corner of this country, involving generals, mayors, governors, barangay (village) captains, and so many of the ‘ninjas’ [as]we call them … these are the police who are into it,” Duterte said in Taguig.

“I might be inclined to place a reward on their head, the members of the police who are protecting the drug syndicates in this country. I am placing, per head, P2 million,” he said.

Duterte pointed out that there are now 3.6 million drug dependents in the country based on data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. These drug dependents are not mere “users” given their sheer number, he claimed.

“You can just imagine a country with three million addicts and they say they are just users. My God! If you are a user, you are [also a]pusher. You have to [establish]connect[ion][with]somebody to finance the [drug]fix,” he claimed.

Drawback

 Duterte was unfazed by the killings and said his intensified anti-drug campaign won’t spare anybody, including the poor.

“They (critics) would want to make it appear that just because this guy is poor, therefore, he should not be made accountable to law but placed in a hospital,” he said.

“In this planet, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. If you see drugs as a viable livelihood, there will always be a drawback,” the President said. </s> PRESIDENT Duterte said on Monday his bloody antidrug campaign that has left nearly 1,800 people dead does not amount to genocide, but that he’s ready to go to jail to defend his men from lawsuits.

Mr. Duterte drew a line between the widespread killings sparked by his antidrug war and the brutality under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the atrocities committed by Islamic State group extremists.

“Genocide? Who did I kill? I did not kill any child. I did not drop barrel [bombs] just likeal- Assad,” President Duterte said in a speech to mark the Philippines’s National Heroes’ day before war veterans, ambassadors and top officials. “I’m fighting…criminals.”

Referring to Islamic State group militants, whom he called “idiots,” Mr. Duterte said, “I do not burn women because they refuse to have sex.” At least 1,779 drug suspects have been killed in President Duterte’s campaign, including 712 who were gunned down in clashes with the police, with the rest being slain in still-unclear circumstances, the national police chief told a Senate inquiry last week.

At least 3.7 million Filipinos have become addicted to methamphetamine, a prohibited stimulant known locally as shabu, with about 600,000 drug users and dealers surrendering to authorities, Mr. Duterte said.

Human-rights groups have expressed alarm over the spate of killings, and United Nations (UN)-appointed human-rights experts warned steps should be taken to halt the violence, adding that the government and law enforcers could be held responsible.

“Claims to fight the illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings,” UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions Agnes Callamard said in a statement this month. The 71-year-old President Duterte built a name with his deadly crime-busting style as a longtime mayor of southern

 Davao City. He described his campaign against drugs as a harsh war that would involve the military because the problem has worsened into a crisis and claimed the lives of law enforcers.

“We might still end up like the South American countries and their fractured governments. I am declaring war,” he told an audience at a national heroes’ cemetery on Monday, which included ambassadors, war veterans and security officials. The drug menace, he said, “has infected every nook and corner of this country involving generals, mayors, governors, barangay [village] captains” and policemen.

Pressing his campaign, Mr. Duterte announced bounties of P2 million ($42,000) for information that would help the government identify any police officer protecting drugs syndicates.

He repeated his pledge to defend the police and military, but warned law enforcers against conniving with criminals.

“In the pursuit of law and order, pursuant to my directions, you do not have to worry about criminal liability,” he said. “I will go to the prison for you. I take full legal responsibility, you just do it according to the books.” “But for those in the government, the police, the corrupt police and the corrupt judges and the corrupt prosecutors, there will be a day of comeuppance, there will always be a day of reckoning,” Duterte said. </s> Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new level, comparing it to Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be “happy to slaughter” three million addicts.

He issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users early on Friday after returning to his home town in southern Davao city after visiting Vietnam, where he discussed his anti-drugs campaign with Vietnamese leaders and ways for their governments to fight transnational crimes, including illegal substances.

Mr Duterte has said his public death threats against drug suspects are designed to scare them into stopping selling drugs and to discourage would-be users. But his latest remarks took that crime-busting approach to a different level.

“Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said, referring to a Philippines government estimate of the number of drug addicts in the country.

Historians say six million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and during the second World War.

During the presidential election campaign earlier this year and in the three months he has been in office, the tough-talking Mr Duterte has threatened to drown drug suspects to fatten the fish in Manila Bay.

He also threatened to execute drug traffickers by hanging - because he did not want to waste electricity on them - until their heads were severed from their bodies.

While Hitler’s victims were innocent people, Mr Duterte said his targets are “all criminals” and that getting rid of them would “finish the (drug) problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition”.

His campaign promise to end corruption and crimes, especially illegal drugs, within six months of taking office on June 30th carried him to an overwhelming victory in the presidential election.

And since he won the election in May, more than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed and nearly 700,000 others have surrendered in his crackdown, but he has asked for a six-month extension to finish the job.

His supporters and many Filipinos exasperated with widespread crime have welcomed his tough approach, but a growing number of critics, including UN officials, the European Union and the United States, have voiced concerns over the widespread killings and human rights violations.

He reacted on Friday by calling critics from the European Union a “group of idiots in the purest form”.

He lashed out at the US, his country’s longtime treaty ally, and the EU for finding fault with his methods, saying European countries were hypocrites for not doing enough to help the large numbers of refugees fleeing from the violence in the Middle East.

“There are migrants escaping from the Middle East. You allow them to rot and then you’re worried about the deaths of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 (people in the Philippines).” </s> The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he would have his son killed if drug trafficking allegations against the younger politician were true, and that the police who carry out the hit would be protected from prosecution.



Paolo Duterte, 42, appeared this month before a senate inquiry to deny accusations made by an opposition lawmaker that he was a member of a Chinese triad gang who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal methamphetamine from China.

Duterte did not refer to the allegations specifically but reiterated his statement from last year’s election campaign that none of his children were involved in drugs, but they would face the harshest punishment if they were.

“I said before my order was: ‘If I have children who are into drugs, kill them so people will not have anything to say,’” Duterte said in a speech on Wednesday night in front of government workers at the presidential palace in Manila.

“So I told Pulong [Paolo’s nickname]: ‘My order is to kill you if you are caught. And I will protect the police who kill you, if it is true,’” he said.

Duterte, 72, won the presidential elections on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.

Since he assumed office in the middle of last year, police have reported killing more than 3,800 people in anti-drug operations while thousands of others have been murdered in unexplained circumstances.

Thousands of his critics and supporters held rival rallies on Thursday, taking national debates over his deadly drug war and martial-law threats to the streets.

Police in battle uniforms were mustered to keep order as protesters held a series of rallies across Manila, using the 45th anniversary of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposing martial law to say Duterte was equally violent and authoritarian.

“Our country is turning into a graveyard. People are getting killed every day and we bury the dead every day, just like in the time of Marcos,” anti-Duterte protest leader Pedro Gonzales said.

But supporters of Duterte also turned up in large numbers, reflecting his popularity with many Filipinos who see him as a charismatic, anti-establishment politician who is their best chance to quell crime and corruption.

As president, Duterte has said he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million drug addicts, and described children shot dead in the drug war as “collateral damage”. But he has also repeatedly insisted he has never instructed police to do anything illegal, and that they must only kill in self-defence.

The anti-Duterte protesters were backed by the political opposition and leaders of the Catholic church, the country’s dominant religion, signalling a rising opposition to Duterte.

Leni Robredo, the vice-president, and Benigno Aquino, Duterte’s predecessor – both critics of the incumbent leader – attended a separate mass on Thursday for those killed in the drug war. “The good part of this is there are so many people concerned, from different ages,” Aquino told reporters.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, denounced the drug killings at another mass on Thursday, saying Catholics must do more than lighting candles for the dead and helping orphans. “Stand up. To keep quiet in the face of evil is a sin,” he said. </s> Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will have his son killed if drug trafficking allegations against the younger politician are true, and that the police who carry out the hit will be protected from prosecution. Paolo Duterte, 42, this month appeared before a senate inquiry to deny accusations made by an opposition lawmaker he was a member of a Chinese triad who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal methamphetamine from China.

President Duterte did not refer to the allegations specifically but reiterated his statement from last year’s election campaign that none of his children were involved in drugs, but they would face the harshest punishment if they were. “I said before my order was: ‘If I have children who are into drugs, kill them so people will not have anything to say’,” Duterte said in a speech on Wednesday night before government workers at the presidential palace in Manila.

“So I told Pulong (Paolo’s nickname): ‘My order is to kill you if you are caught. And I will protect the police who kill you, if it is true’,” he said. Duterte, 72, won the presidential elections on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.

Since he assumed office in the middle of last year, police have reported killing more than 3,800 people in anti-drug operations while thousands of others have been murdered in unexplained circumstances.

Duterte has as president said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts, and described children shot dead in the drug war as “collateral damage”. But he has also repeatedly insisted he has never instructed police to do anything illegal, and that they must only kill in self-defence.

Duterte’s aides have cautioned journalists not to believe everything the president says, sometimes describing his comments as “merely rhetoric” or “hyperbole”. Some opposition lawmakers and other Duterte critics allege he and his family have long been involved in corrupt activities dating back to the president’s two-decade reign as mayor of the southern city of Davao.

Duterte denies all allegations of corruption, and insists he is an anti-graft crusader who lives a humble lifestyle. In this month’s senate hearing, the opposition lawmaker said Paolo Duterte, who is vice mayor of Davao, and the president’s son-in-law were involved in a criminal syndicate called the “Davao Group”.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> JERUSALEM — Israel’s Foreign Ministry says it’s “unfortunate” that President Rodrigo Duterte chose to invoke Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust in his bloody anti-crime war.

Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon says Saturday Israel is convinced that President Duterte “will find a way to clarify his words.”

On Friday, the outspoken Duterte said “Hitler massacred 3 million Jews … there’s 3 million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

Duterte, under fire for extra-judicial killings in the drug war, was referring to the estimated number of drug addicts in the country. The U.S. has warned the president’s violent rhetoric could affect aid.

The Nazis and their allies killed 6 million Jews during World War II as part of a campaign to obliterate European Jewry.
Duterte rejects claims that he is inciting genocide with his anti-drug campaign.