Sunday, July 7FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE

Philippine police are executing people with Zionist weapons

Israel continues to export arms and military training to Rodrigo Duterte’s regime, even after the ICC launched a preliminary investigation to look into suspicions of crimes against humanity there.

By Eitay Mack

Former Philippine National Police Chief and current Senate of the Philippines Ronald dela Rosa seen holding an Israeli-made rifle. (Courtesy of Philippine National Police)

Former Philippine National Police Chief and current Senate of the Philippines Ronald dela Rosa seen holding an Israeli-made machine gun. (Courtesy of Philippine National Police)

For much of the past two years, Israel has been exporting weapons and military training to the Philippine security forces. As part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war, police officers and masked militiamen have been raiding the country’s poorest neighborhoods, where they execute men and young boys suspected of criminal activities or drug use. Their weapons of choice? Israeli-produced rifles such as the Tavor and the Negev, and handguns such as the Masada.

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Since Dutarte was elected president of the Philippines in June 2016, the country’s police force and its various militias have executed at least 12,000 people without trial, according to Human Rights Watch.

Duterte is using the drug war to fortify his rule and justify the weakening of his country’s democratic institutions, which were put in place after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos’ decades-long dictatorship in 1986. Instead of dealing with the Philippines’ real problems, Duterte is choosing to invest the country’s limited resources in tackling the its drug problem in such a way that violates international law and aligns with his election campaign promise to kill 100,000 people in the first six months of his presidency.

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Duterte’s strategy of social engineering and solving political and social problems through mass killings is not new. Neither is the silence of the international community. And yet, one can expect that sooner or later the United Nations will decide that Duterte and his security forces are carrying out gross violations of basic human and civil rights. As early as February 2018, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced that she had launched a preliminary examination into whether Duterte was committing crimes against humanity in his drug war.

When he arrived in Israel for an official visit in September 2018, Duterte did something most world leaders wouldn’t: he exposed his host country’s shameful behavior during a formal meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. As he stood before the president, the Israeli press, and the world, Duterte said that he had instructed his security forces to purchase weapons and military equipment exclusively from Israel — because unlike the U.S., Germany, and even China, Israel has no restrictions on these kinds of transactions.

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte visits the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem during Duterte's official visit to Israel, on September 3, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte visits the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem during Duterte’s official visit to Israel, on September 3, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Although the Netanyahu government insists that it provides legitimate aid to Duterte for issues of national security, the truth is that most of those arms and training are provided to police forces who raid poor neighborhoods, rather than to security forces fighting against insurgent groups such as Islamic State. Yet the success of ISIS militants in taking over a large city in the southern Philippines in May 2017 is a clear sign that Duterte’s security policies are a failure.

This information was published on the official Facebook pages of the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Navy, an arms company in the Philippines that mediates weapons deals with Israel, and in the official documents and publications of the police, the Defense Ministry, and the government’s news agency.

Ronald dela Rosa, a member of the Philippines senate who previously served as the country’s chief of police and who led the drug war, is responsible for the police’s acquisition of Israeli weapons. Dela Rosa recently caused public outcry when he expressed support for the police officers who killed a three-year-old named Myka Ulpina in early July, saying “shit happens.”

The Tel Aviv District Court will hear a petition to stop security exports to the Philippines on September 18.

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  • LEAVE A COMMENT* RequiredCOMMENTS
    1. DUTERTE The GREATMonday
      August 19, 2019DUTERTE is a HERO !!!KEEP KILLING, till youve wiped the Phillipines away from that SCUM !!! Reply to Comment
      • JohnTuesday
        August 20, 2019where’s the fake news everybody’s on about? pinoy police buy israeli guns and use them to kill drug addicts – as stated. they buy israeli because other weapons-exporters are more cautious to associate their government with this particular human rights abuse.obviously shabu can destroy a life a family or neighborhood, but killing does that too, without even the benefit of addressing the intersectional crises of addiction. Reply to Comment
      • Roger YachtThursday
        August 22, 2019Fake news this is! Reply to Comment
    2. Conrad JavierMonday
      August 19, 2019You are misinformed . The armed forces of the philippines was able to destroy the Isis terrorist in marawi in less than a year. The persons being killed in the fight for drugs are drug dealers and suppliers and their armed group who is out to destroy the Philippine society and at the same time make money out of poor people. Know your facts well and do research. Reply to Comment
    3. Bruce GouldMonday
      August 19, 2019@Bautista Renren: “Police operation using rifles in close encounters?”“IWI to Deliver Masada Pistols to the Philippine National Police”https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/34843“The Philippine National Police (PNP) will be receiving Masada 9mm pistols from Israel Weapon Industries Ltd. (IWI). R. Espineli Trading said on June 30 that delivery will be soon.”https://www.mintfo.com/security-defense/pnp-set-to-get-israeli-service-pistols/5122/More… Reply to Comment
    4. Lewis From AfulaMonday
      August 19, 2019If the Filipino police had not bought those rifles from Israel, they would have bought them from someone else.
      Israel should be congratulated for its arms deal.
      The Lunatic dreamer who wrote this article needs to join the Real World. Reply to Comment
      • Bruce GouldMonday
        August 19, 2019@Lewis: I’m merely trying to understand your ethical sensibility:If you happened to be in possession of some crack cocaine and a ten year old approached you and wanted to buy some, you’d say “Well, if I don’t sell this kid some crack someone else will – it’s easy to buy – so why not? The money might as well be in my pocket.” Is that correct? Reply to Comment
      • BenTuesday
        August 20, 2019Yah. And if the drug dealers had not bought their heroin from the Bonanno crime family they would have bought it from the Lucchese crime family. The Bonannos should be congratulated for their heroin deal. Lunatic dreamers need to join the Real World.Speaking of Bonannos, that reminds me of bananas, which reminds me of what Tom Friedman wrote last week:“As The Jerusalem Post reported on July 11, “Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose presidential candidacy has rallied in recent weeks, told two Jewish anti-occupation activists ‘yes’ when they asked her for support.’’
        But who can blame them? Trump is equating the entire Democratic Party with hatred for Israel, while equating support for Netanyahu — who leads the most extreme, far-right government that Israel has ever had, who is facing indictment on three counts of corruption and whose top priority is getting re-elected so that he can have the Israeli Knesset overrule its justice system and keep him out of court — with loving Israel.
        How many young Americans want to buy into that narrative? If Bibi wins, he plans to pass a law banning his own indictment on corruption, and then, when Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down that law as illegal, he plans to get the Knesset to pass another law making the Supreme Court subservient to his Parliament. I am not making this up. Israel will become a Jewish banana republic.
        If and when that happens, every synagogue, every campus Hillel, every Jewish institution, every friend of Israel will have to ask: Can I support such an Israel?”More… Reply to Comment
        • Lewis From AfulaTuesday
          August 20, 2019A country is not like an individual. There is no PAN-GLOBAL POLICE FORCE to arrest those corrupt Thai polticans, police and armed forces, is there ?Time for Comrades Ben & Bruce to join the World as it is.
          Playing make-belief nonsense games in your head is obviusly a waste of time. Reply to Comment
          • BenWednesday
            August 21, 2019Your ethical sensibility confirmed. Reply to Comment
          • Lewis From AfulaFriday
            August 23, 2019Nothing to do with my personal ethics.
            It is the way the World works ! Reply to Comment
    5. FredMonday
      August 19, 2019Eitay Mack where in hell did you get your fake information? Reply to Comment
    6. John Paul MesinaTuesday
      August 20, 2019Totally fake news. Oh my, may you start changing your ways while there is still time. At the end of our life, you will be accounted for all the maliciousness and lies that you are spreading. May the Lord have mercy for your soul. Start doing good works brother… Reply to Comment
    7. RonaldoTuesday
      August 20, 2019Fucking fake Reply to Comment
    8. Richard CastilloTuesday
      August 20, 2019This author do not know the problem of drug abuse in the Philippines. Many police died because these drug abusers and dangerous drug peddlers have guns. This author should have lived in the Philippines before Duterte as President and let him walk alone in the streets of the city and we will see if he can write this kind of article. Reply to Comment
    9. BenTuesday
      August 20, 2019Interesting isn’t it how the stock response of the far right everywhere now is “fake news.” No argument, no nothing, just “fake news.” This page is testament to this. But note also that half them here say “fake news” and the other half give away the other half by saying in effect, “Ok it’s true, but so what, only strongman Duterte can solve our problems!” Duterte’s disinformation squads might want to get their messages aligned and stop undercutting each other like this. Reply to Comment
    10. June SalisiWednesday
      August 21, 2019Not true. Philippines need a Du
      30 president. There are more crimes committed by drugs. Rape and murder and more. Reply to Comment
    11. Ox AmWednesday
      August 21, 2019Your news reporting is not worthy of monetary contribution. Bias. Reply to Comment
      • BenThursday
        August 22, 2019Because the Jerusalem Post is unbiased? The Israel National News is fair and balanced? The Yesha Council Bulletin is a beacon of integrity?+972 Magazine is a gem of truth-telling and integrity, in Hebrew and English, by Israelis on the ground who know what is really going on and who can’t be hoodwinked. And I think you just can’t stand that.How dare +972 spill the beans on this nice little arms sales racket we and Duterte got going on. And this nice little occupation of ours. The nerve of them!More… Reply to Comment

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