Philippine leader Duterte eyes arms trade on visit to Israel

Duterte later apologised and said he had been misunderstood.

“Despots and leaders who show insanity should, well, they should be disposed of”, he added.

Though Russia has traditionally backed Israel’s Arab neighbors, Netanyahu has indicated the Putin backchannel has helped keep Israel out of trouble in Syria’s civil war and would be beneficial in getting arch-enemy Iran’s forces out of there as well.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte began a four-day visit to Israel on Monday in which he is expected to press for closer security ties between the countries and agree arms deals to buy more Israeli weapons.

He later apologized for having mentioned Jews, but never retracted his apparent endorsement of mass killings.

Rights groups say the actual number of dead is triple that and could amount to crimes against humanity.

Previously, Duterte has favorably compared his extermination of drug dealers with the Nazi’s killing of Jews.

Netanyahu noted that his late father, the historian Benzion Netanyahu, “received incredible care” from a Filipino caregiver before he died in 2012 at the age of 102.

He then headed to Jerusalem, where he will hold an event with some of the thousands of Filipino migrant workers in Israel.

“I said, ‘Son of a bitch, Obama you can go to hell”. In 1947, the president of the Philippines at the time, Manuel Roxas, provided a crucial vote at the United Nations to create the state of Israel.

Immediately after Duterte’s arrival on Sunday night, he revived one of his previous foul-mouthed remarks that have caused anger, saying he was sorry for calling former United States president Barack Obama a “son of a whore”. We share the same passion for human beings.

The statement angered Duterte, prompting him to fire back at Obama with a warning to keep his hands off the country’s domestic affairs.

“May we continue to be blessed with a strong relationship”, he said. He later apologized. More recently, he forcibly kissed a woman on stage and said there would be many rape cases in a Philippine city “if there were many lovely women”.

The Philippines and Israel inked three agreements Monday, the day President Rodrigo Duterte met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his visit, Duterte spoke respectfully during his stop at the Yad Vashem memorial.

Duterte last Sunday told the Filipino community in Israel that the Jewish state provided “most of the intelligence gadgets” used to win the Marawi siege.

On Wednesday, the Philippine leader is to visit the Open Doors Monument, a memorial to Filipinos who saved Jews from Nazi persecution.

A Philippine business delegation from different sectors of economy will also join him to explore the “diverse trade and investment opportunities that make Jordan and Israel more tempting to offer”.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced that on Tuesday, September 4, the government is expected to sign a deal with Ratio Petroleum Limited, allowing the company to explore for oil resources in an area east of Palawan.

“I would like to say that we are one in saying that it will not happen again and my country will be the first to voice such I said a massacre of a race just because of hate”, he said.