Monument celebrates Filipino-Israeli ties

YEE. Winning design.

In 1948, the Philippines was an American colony, while Israel has yet to be declared a nation.

When the holocaust took place in the 1930s, many European Jews tried to escape religious persecution. The only Asian nation willing to accept Jewish refugees was the commonwealth Philippine government of President Manuel Quezon.

In 2005, the late Antonio Modena, then our ambassador to Israel, and Mayor Meir Nitzan of Rishon Lezion, the fourth largest city in Israel, decided to put up a monument that would commemorate the friendship forged by the historic event.

Open competition

In 2007, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts held an open competition for the design of the aforesaid monument. The winner was Luis Yee Jr., better known as Junyee.

Yee’s winning monument is comprised of a series of doors that open inward to form a triangle—a common feature of both Philippine and Israeli flags.

Every year, Rishon Lezion celebrates the occasion in front of the monument. We should build a copy of the monument and celebrate the event on Quezon’s birthday, Aug. 19. We can even turn this story into a movie. It’s just waiting for a Filipino, Israeli or Hollywood filmmaker to bring it to life!