Philippines awarded special certificate for support of Jews in Holocaust
"The Jewish people have a long memory and President Quezon deserves to be remembered for his brave act of kindness during such a dark period of Jewish History," said David Yaari.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFKatheryne Wendy Cruz, Political Attach`e - Embassy of the Philippines, David Yaari, Vice Chairman of the Confederation of General Zionists, First Secretary and Consul of the Philippines Embassy in Tel Aviv, Raichel Quinones and former MK and Secretary General of the Confederation of General Zionis(photo credit: COURTESY/ YOSSIFON PR.)
The First Secretary and Consul of the Philippines Embassy, Reichel Quinones was awarded a special certificate by The Confederation of General Zionists (CGZ) faction of the World Zionist congress, on Sunday. The certificate is in recognition of the republic's vote in favor of UN General Assembly resolution 181 and for the Open Doors policy of former president Manuel Quezon.The certificate was awarded in a ceremony at the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv.The Open Door policy, in which Quezon chose to open the gates of his country to Jews after being confronted with the reality of the persecution of the Jews, their confinement to ghettos and concentration camps and their execution for no reason other than that they were Jews, saved over 1,300, according to a CGZ press release.Resolution 181 called for independent Jewish and Arab states on territory that had been under British control since the end of World War I."The Jewish people have a long memory and president Quezon deserves to be remembered for his brave act of kindness during such a dark period of Jewish history," said CGZ vice chairman David Yaari."As leaders of the General Zionist faction of the World Zionist Organization, we deeply appreciate the consideration of the Philippines to vote in favor of Resolution 181 (the partition plan) on November 29, 1947.""In a world filled with enemies of Israel and the Jewish people we cannot take it for granted when a country saves Jews and supports Israel," said former MK and CGZ secretary-general Dov Lipman."We owe a debt of gratitude to the Philippine government and people, and today was just the beginning of showing our appreciation."Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report.
