October 24, 2023
MANILA – Philippine Special envoy to China Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. has apologized over his controversial tweet saying that “Palestinian children should be killed.”
Locsin on Sunday said it was only a “sarcastic response” to another post, adding that he immediately deleted it as he realized it “could be misconstructed and retweeted to incite.”
READ: What we know about Israel’s war with Hamas
“My apologies to those who did misconstrue my sentiments and did in fact get triggered — obviously was not advocating for the literal death of anyone, but rather simply for the end of any ideology that condones terrorism in any way, shape or form,” said the special envoy.
READ: DFA: Fourth Filipino killed in Israel-Hamas war
Locsin’s deleted post states: “That’s why Palestinian children should be killed; they might grow up to become as gullible as innocent Palestinians letting Hamas launch rockets at Israel.”
Thousands of people, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreigners, have been killed since Hamas militants attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, October 7.