Last Friday, in a speech delivered upon his arrival from his state visit to Vietnam, President Rodrigo Duterte emphasized the seriousness of his ongoing anti-drug campaign in the country. He likened his crusade to what happened when Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler occupied almost all of Europe during World War II.
Duterte said, “Hitler massacred three-million Jews. Now, there are three-million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” He added, “At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have, 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.”
As expected, anti-Duterte critics jumped at the opportunity to brand the president a ruthless killer like Hitler.
Jewish groups in the United States, particularly the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League, quickly condemned Duterte for his statement. Without hesitation, they scored Duterte for comparing drug users and drug dealers with the Jews killed by the Nazis during the war.
Likewise, the Jewish Lobby, an influential group operating in the halls of the US Congress, pressed US President Barack Obama to take a harder stand against the outspoken Philippine leader.
Israeli consular officials were less impulsive. They sought a clarification from Malacañang as to what President Duterte really had in mind when he made the controversial remark.
To defuse a possible aggravation of the matter, President Duterte apologized for the remark, and explained that he had no intention to insult the memory of the Jews who died in the war under the Nazi program of ethnic cleansing and racial purification.
With tensions on all sides substantially diminished, an analysis of what happened is certainly in order. A historical overview is also needed.
Under orders from Adolf Hitler, six million Jews were killed by Nazi troops during World War II. The mass extermination of perceived enemies of Hitler’s purportedly superior Aryan race was done in an organized manner, and often with the cooperation of people of the occupied territories. This chapter of world history is referred to as the Holocaust.
Since the end of the war, and after the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals ended with the execution of many of Hitler’s top lieutenants, the German government has admitted the extent of its role in the Holocaust, and has apologized for it.
As a demonstration of its sincerity in this regard, the German government has outlawed any attempt at resurrecting Hitler’s Nazi Party. Even the public display of Nazi symbols like the swastika, as well as glorified portraits of Hitler himself, is prohibited. It is also very difficult to get a permit to shoot a film set in World War II in Germany today.
For Jewish leaders who survived the war, the Holocaust underscored the importance of establishing a homeland for their people. Thus, in May 1948, the Jewish state of Israel was born, and it was immediately recognized by many countries, including the newly-independent Republic of the Philippines.
Anti-Semitism, or hostility towards the Jews as a group, remained a Jewish concern even after Israel was established. For instance, several Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Today, anti-Semitism is present in many countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, and Libya. Anti-Semitism can also be felt in isolated areas in the United States and Europe.
The Philippines, however, has no historical tradition of anti-Semitism. In fact, the Commonwealth government under President Manuel L. Quezon allowed Jewish migrants escaping Nazi persecution in Europe to sojourn in the Philippines, at a time when many supposedly “freedom-loving” countries refused to accommodate Jewish refugees.
Were the words employed by President Duterte in his speech really designed to compare drug users and drug dealers to the Jews killed during the Holocaust? It does not appear so.
Taken in the context of what President Duterte said, Hitler was a reference point for one’s zeal and determination to carry out a large-scale campaign towards a specific end. It seems that Duterte’s reference to Hitler was to illustrate the extent Duterte was willing to go to, in order to destroy the drug menace plaguing the Filipino people.
Hitler’s objective during the war was genocide, plain and simple. That is a far cry, and a lot different from Duterte’s state-sponsored campaign against illegal drugs.
The historical record indicates that around 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Duterte erroneously said Hitler killed three million. If Duterte was staunchly anti-Semitic, he would have gotten his figures right.
Indeed, President Duterte could use some precision, even refinement perhaps, in his public statements, but then, he never presented himself as a very eloquent and diplomatic public speaker when he ran for president. During the presidential campaign, the fiery Davao City mayor emphasized that he is a man of action, rather than one who merely talks and pays lip service to his constituents.
Precisely because he disdains hypocrisy, Duterte does not mince words whenever he expresses what he has in mind. His candor and spontaneity may not be the ideal embodiment of international diplomacy, but at least he speaks frankly in a world filled with political double-talk.
In the light of President Duterte’s penchant for being outspoken and frank, and considering that the Philippines has no historical tradition of anti-Semitism, the conclusion that Duterte insulted the memory of the Jews killed in World War II, was made rather impulsively. There may have been an inappropriate choice of words on his part, but it certainly isn’t a case of anti-Semitism.
What other nations have to say about President Duterte’s speech is hardly of any importance now. At the end of the day, what is important is that the Filipino people know what their president is talking about, and that it was not his intention to be anti-Semitic when he elaborated on his relentless campaign against the drug curse that threatens to destroy the Philippines.
