GENTLE BREEZE By  NELLY FAVIS VILLAFUERTE Nelly Favis Villafuerte President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will visit Israel in the first week of September, 2018.  This is the first official visit ever of a president of the Philippines to Israel.

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Let me take this opportunity to refresh our minds on the special historical bonding between the Philippines and Israel.  President Manuel Quezon (the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth) through his open-door policy saved the lives of some 1,300 Jewish refugees from the infamous Holocaust in Europe.  Quezon’s kind act of opening our country to the fleeing Jewish refugees is a contrast to what had been happening in Europe. Consider the following:

• During the so-called Golden Era of Spain, she was a world power in the 14th century. At that time, there were more than 850,000 Jews who had made great contributions to Spanish society in various ways. But in 1492, the Spanish Queen Isabella wanted to purify the aristocracy.  She issued an Edict of Expulsion.  The Jews who were not converted to Spain’s religion were expelled from Spain.  The Jews left at about the same time Columbus sailed across the Atlantic and discovered the America – which turned out to be the haven of the expelled Jews.
• In 1727, Queen Catherine of Russia banned all Jews from the country. When Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated, the Jews were blamed.  Violent riots broke out in 1881 and resulted in the murder of hundreds of Jews and the wounding of thousands.  The houses and properties of the Jews were destroyed.  The Russian government enacted the so-called May laws which restricted the businesses and mobility of Jews.  The Jewish reaction was an exodus to America.  No other country except America accepted the Russian Jews;
• England’s treatment of the Jews was so erratic. At one time, the Jews were imprisoned.  At other times, the Jews were expelled and were not to return for 400 years.  Sometimes the wealth of the Jews were also confiscated.  Great Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations voted against Israel becoming a state.

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If the late President Quezon did not open our country for the fleeing Jewish refugees, the latter would have ended in Hitler’s dreaded crematoriums.  If generations will remember Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist formerly a Nazi Party member and spy, for his compassionate act of rescuing 1,200 persecuted Jews from deportation and death in the gas chambers and in the Nazi concentration camp, generations will likewise remember our very own President Quezon for his moral courage and his extraordinary act of compassion in opening our country to the 1,300 fleeing Jewish refugees.

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The support of the Philippines for Israel did not end with Quezon’s open-door policy for the fleeing Jewish refugees. The Philippines became the only Asian nation to vote in the United Nations for the rebirth of the State of Israel. It was the breaking of the tie of votes at the United Nations in 1948 by then Filipino United Nations President Carlos P. Romulo that led to the formal creation of the State of Israel.  In the website http://www.jpost.com/Metro/The-Philippines-A-distant-haven-from-the-Holocaust-488500, it is reported that there is an Open-Door Monument that the Israeli government built in Rishon LeZion – in commemoration of the Philippine rescue of Jews fleeing the Holocaust in 2009. The monument’s three doors symbolize the Philippines kindness and friendship with Israel.  The first door represents the Open-Door Policy of the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines. The second door represents the Philippines’ vote in favor of the creation of the State of Israel. And the third door represents the work of more than 30,000 Filipino caregivers who assist many of Israel’s elderly and disabled.

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Genesis 12:3 of the Holy Bible says: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  The Philippines is blessed to have immensely blessed Israel.  When our Lord God says he will bless those who bless Israel, certainly, and surely, God will comply with His promise in Genesis 12:3.  Our Lord God does not change yesterday, today, and forever.  We also believe in God. We believe too that Israel is special to God.  Finally, we believe that Israel is the land where it all began because Jesus lived all his life in this place.  He was crucified and died in Israel.

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I have been writing about the Bible in this Gentle Breeze Column for the past 32 years. I have been writing so many articles about the land of Israel and its capital Jerusalem; about its people (known as the Jews, Hebrews, or Israel) and about the struggles of the Jewish people to survive.  Why this special attention/treatment to Israel in my column?  Because the reality of God can be gleaned from what the Bible says about Israel and its people, the Jews.  Because Israel’s survival as a nation is a divine miracle.

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By the way, may we invite you to be one with us in blessing Israel – by supporting her and praying for the peace of Jerusalem.   Because this is what the Holy Bible tells us to do.  JOIN US and SIGN UP to be a member of Filipinos United For Israel in its website:  http:// filipinosunitedforisrael.org/.  Not many of us know that Israel’s existence is the number one sign of the end day prophecy and that Israel will play a major role in the last days.  Please click the link, https://drive.google.com/file/d/17yWvAqydsmJf229HZAgg9OLBKW4KSM_J/view to watch the 6-minute music-documentary video about the 1300 Jewish refugees who were saved from the Holocaust.

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This column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letter-request to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5233 LRV Building, Fahrenheit St., Palanan, Makati City. Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano Bible that is preferred.   Be joyful and forgiving!  (Comments may be sent to Ms. Villafuerte’s email: [email protected])