{"id":13611,"date":"2018-09-02T15:31:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T15:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13611"},"modified":"2018-09-02T15:31:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T15:31:00","slug":"philippines-rodrigo-duterte-embarks-on-israel-and-jordan-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13611","title":{"rendered":"Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte embarks on Israel and Jordan trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rodrigo Duterte<\/a> has embarked on a visit to Israel<\/a>, the first such trip by a Philippine president, as part of a regional tour that will also include a stop in Jordan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old said on Sunday he would seek to re-affirm and renew relations with the two countries, where an estimated 76,000 Filipinos live and work.<\/p>\n

“I leave today for landmark visits that underscore our vision for our country – a responsible member of the world community – a Philippines that is friend to all and an enemy to no one,” Duterte said before departing for Tel Aviv.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While in Israel, Duterte will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> and President Reuven Rivlin, with defence, labour and tourism<\/a> deals high the agenda.<\/p>\n

Duterte is eager to improve security cooperation with Israel, which has sold the Philippines<\/a> three radar systems and 100 armoured vehicles, and which Manila is now eyeing for an aircraft deal.<\/p>\n

According to Israeli government data, exports to the Philippines were worth $143m in 2017.<\/p>\n

“[The visit] is for President Duterte to look for an alternative market for … weapons for our armed forces, as well as for the police,” Henelito Sevilla, an international relations expert at the University of the Philippines, told the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n

Duterte will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem<\/a> and the Open Doors Monument, a memorial to Filipinos who saved Jews from Nazi persecution. <\/p>\n

Known for his controversial turns of phrase, Duterte has compared<\/a> the killings committed during his controversial anti-drug war<\/a> to the murder of Jews by German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.<\/p>\n

“Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there are three million drug addicts [in the Philippines]. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said in 2017. Most mainstream historians say six million Jews died in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Duterte, who took office in 2016, later apologised for his remarks, which he said were aimed at critics who had likened him to the Nazi leader.<\/p>\n

Jerusalem vote<\/h2>\n

Late last year, the Philippines abstained<\/a>\u00a0from a vote at the United Nations General Assembly rebuking the US for moving its embassy<\/a> to from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a controversial decision that sparked widespread international condemnation and large-scale protests.<\/p>\n

Palestinian leaders see occupied East Jerusalem<\/a> as the capital of their future state.<\/p>\n

Duterte on Sunday expressed support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“We shall be guided by our constitution and laws as well as our international commitments in support of efforts and initiatives including the two-state solution,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “assign(s) great importance to this visit, which symbolises the strong, warm ties between our peoples as well as the enormous potential for developing and strengthening the relations”.<\/p>\n

Duterte will be in Israel until Wednesday, before going to Jordan<\/a> until September 8. In Amman,\u00a0he is expected to meet King Abdullah II.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rodrigo Duterte has embarked on a visit to Israel, the first such trip by a Philippine president, as part of a regional tour that will also include a stop in Jordan. The 73-year-old said on Sunday he would seek to re-affirm and renew relations with the two countries, where an estimated 76,000 Filipinos live and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}