Congratulations the Filipino people and the Government of the Philippines for a successful celebration of democracy. Our best wishes to presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and all elected leaders of this nation. May God bless them with wisdom of heart and mind to serve and lead this nation to prosperity and good life to all. We look forward to further develop our special relations on the foundation of our historic friendship.
Israel celebrates its 68th birthday, a life time for an individual but not so for a nation of more than 3,000 years journey in history.
Our country has many names, all of them rooted in the most popular book ever written – the Bible…
We started with “Canaan,” The Promised Land, and The Land of Milk and Honey, later to become the Kingdom of Israel, and the Kingdom of Judah 2,000 years ago the Roman empire renamed it Palestina or in English – Palestine as a punishment to the rebellious Judean kingdom who was seeking freedom from the Roman occupation.
For the last 2,000 years, this land is also known as the Holy Land…
Today, we celebrate the 68th birthday of the old/new name – Israel, and rebirth of Israel after 1,900 years is no short of a miracle.
In recent years we enjoy a new name, first time nothing to with the bible… Israel is nicknamed as the Startup Nation… for Israel today became one of the leading hi-tech hubs of our time with the highest number of Startup companies after Silicon Valley and the No. 2 country with traded companies in NASDAQ…
Check Waze, Intel’s Pentium or Cellron, drip irrigation, Cherry tomatoes, disk on key, voicemail and the first texting system – ICQ – to name just a few, all made in Israel…
So, we started our journey in history as the Promised Land and today we are a land of many promises, between the Holy Land and the startup nation, we promise you never a dull moment and if there is a dull moment we make sure to change it…
In 1958, our first prime minister of Israel David Ben Gurion, decided that the 10 years old Israel at the time must share its nation-building experience with the newly founded nations of the world in Africa, Asia and South America, and since then, more than 130,000 people from every corner of the world enjoyed our hospitality in a large variety of know-how programs in Israel, and many more abroad under MASHAV, Israel’s international development agency.
Philippines was always a special partner; over the years with more than 6,000 participants. In recent years, we host more than 500 agriculture students from 29 universities and colleges for an annual 11 months OJT program in Israel.
The Philippines is not an ordinary relationship for us – Israel and the Jewish People. This unique relationship starts before our two nations became fully independent.
In 1937, Manuel L. Quezon the first President of the commonwealth came across the growing plight of the Jewish communities under the Nazi regime.
On purely moral grounds and conviction, President Quezon decided to open the gates of the Philippines to Jewish refugees and made arrangements to absorb 170,000 people.
Unfortunately, politics and the start of World War II in the Philippines enabled only 1,300 to reach the shores of this country, saving them from certain death.
Manuel Quezon’s goodwill was defined as the “open door policy” and it was met with the open hearts and friendship of the Filipino people.
His policy and deeds earned him and this nation a grateful Jewish nation and gave him and this nation a great moral victory at a time when most of the world suffered a great moral collapse and defeat.
But this is not the only pillar in our relations. Ten years after, in 1947, it’s another Manuel (a beautiful Hebrew name) who makes a difference in the life of our nation. This time, it’s President Manuel Roxas with Vice President Elpidio Quirino on his side, the Philippines became the only Asian country in the United Nations to cast a vote in favor of the creation of the State of Israel, and that was a critical vote, which makes it possible for us to celebrate our National Days ever since.
So, we have 1,301 good reasons to thank you Philippines – and friends in need are friends indeed became the foundation of our relations, and much has happened over the years.
Looking back at the year passed since our last National Day, we can note with great satisfaction the many developments in areas like food security, technology, homeland security and tourism, with some important turning points like, the visit to Israel of Dr. Patricia Licuanan, Chairperson of Commission on Higher Education; the visit of Israel’s Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin in Manila; and the visit to Israel of Secretary Fredelita Guiza, Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization alongside so many other visits of business, professional groups and individuals.
Our thanks and appreciation to President Benigno Aquino and his government for their friendship and support of our developing relations, we wish him and the members of his government good health, happiness and success in their future endeavors.
Celebrating our 68th Anniversary in the Philippine Press – the Manila Bulletin Supplement
Celebrating our 68th Anniversary in the Philippine Press – the Business Mirror Supplement