PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte, who once compared himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his bloody drug war to the Holocaust, visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem, Israel on Monday, September 3.
During his four-day historic visit to Israel, Duterte had a museum tour at the memorial hall, and participated in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Hall of Remembrance.
Duterte expressed hope that there would be no repeat of brutality and cruelty during the Holocaust.
"I could not imagine of a country obey an insane leader. And I could not ever fathom the spectacle of a human being going into a killing spree, murdering old men, women, men, children, mother," he said in his remarks during his visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust.
"I hope that this will not happen again... We have learned so much along the years during the two wars. There is always a lesson to be learned and that despots and leaders who show insanity should be — well they should be disposed of at the first instance," he added.
The President also signed the guest book at the Children's Memorial Hall.
In a similar message, Duterte said people should be united to avoid this "horrific and benighted" history experienced by Jews.
"Never again. May the world learn the lessons of this horrific and benighted period of human history," Duterte said in a dedication he wrote on the memorial guest book.
"May the hearts of peoples around the world remain ever open. And may the minds of all men and women learn to work together towards providing a safe haven for all who are being persecuted," he added.
Duterte is the first Filipino leader who set foot in the Holy Land since the establishment of bilateral relations between the Philippines and Israel on August 9, 1957.
Duterte had drawn the Jewish community's ire after he compared himself to Hitler in September 2016, saying that he would be "happy to slaughter" the drug addicts in the Philippines the same way the Nazi leader did to around six million Jews at the end of World War II.
"Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there is three million drug addicts [in the Philippines. I'd be happy to slaughter them," he said in a press conference in Davao City on September 30, 2016.
"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 to perdition," he added.
He apologized days after his controversial remark, and stressed that he never intended to derogate the memory of Jews killed during the Holocaust.
Israel considers its diplomatic ties with the Philippines as special after the late president Manuel Quezon opened the doors for Jews who escaped the Holocaust between 1935 and 1941. (SunStar Philippines)