My Israel Home

The Israel-Philippines Connection

By Gedaliah Borvick

President Quezon with the Frieder brothers in 1940 Several Jewish refugees with Mr. and Mrs. Frieder in the Philippines, 1940 President Quezon welcoming Jewish refugees at a new hall that was built on his own property to house the refugees

This article is dedicated in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls every year on January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Haifa is a beautiful city located in northern Israel which offers its residents a rich quality of life. The country’s third largest city, Haifa is on the comeback trail after having fallen into a sixty-year decline following Israel’s independence in 1948. Accordingly, a number of clients have rediscovered Haifa and purchased apartments there, either for their own use or as investments.

One of these clients sent me a photo of a property on Manila Street. The street name piqued my interest, as I wondered: what’s so special about the capital of the Philippines that a street in Haifa was named in its honor? I then discovered an extraordinary long-standing friendship between the Philippines and the Jewish nation, which harkens back to pre-World War II.

The Philippine Commonwealth was one of the very few governments – and the only nation in Asia – that came to the rescue of the beleaguered Jews in World War II. In 1939, the Philippine government attempted to issue over 10,000 visas to the Jews and set up Jewish refugee settlements in the country. However, due to resistance from the U.S. State Department and the fact that the war broke out a few months later, only 1,300 Jewish refugees were able to avail themselves of these precious visas.

This act of kindness came about over a friendly game of poker. The Frieder brothers owned a cigar business in Cincinnati, Ohio, and set up a manufacturing plant in Manila. Well-connected, they would often play poker and enjoy cigars with President Manuel Quezon, U.S. high commissioner to the Philippines Paul McNutt, and American Colonel Dwight Eisenhower, who was Quezon’s military advisor and a rising star in the U.S. military.

Alarmed by the deteriorating situation for Jews in Germany, and aware that most countries were closing their doors to immigration, the Frieder brothers saw the writing on the wall. Encouraged by their successful involvement in the 1937 evacuation of 28 Jews from Shanghai to Manila, in which they formed the Jewish Refugee Committee in Manila to help the new arrivals get settled, the Frieders devised an immigration program to rescue thousands of Jews. Their fellow poker enthusiasts Quezon, McNutt and Eisenhower were highly principled individuals and were happy to cooperate. They helped cajole a reluctant President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and an openly hostile U.S. State Department to begrudgingly grant visas to Jews. Although the original plan was to rescue 10,000 Jews, the rapidly deteriorating situation in Europe and foot-dragging by American diplomats short-circuited the plan.

After the war, the Philippines continued its friendship with the Jewish nation. In 1947, the Philippines was the only Asian nation that voted in favor of the UN Partition Plan of Palestine and cast the decisive vote that created the State of Israel. Ten years later, in 1957, the Philippines established diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Philippines’ kindness towards the Jewish refugees is but a small story of heroism in the larger saga of the Holocaust. However, it was a rare ray of light in a very dark and gloomy world and epitomized the message of altruism, morality, and hope in the face of global prejudice, indifference, and despair.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail. com.

Travel

Diving the Wreck of the Satil Missile Ship

by Dr. Jeffrey Galler

A stingray glides along the ocean floor A shy octapus emerges to check out the scuvba diving tourists

Ihave dived on many shipwrecks around the world, but nothing could have prepared me for the intense, emotional experience of diving on the Israeli missile ship, the Satil, which lies under the waters off the coast of Nahariya, in northern Israel.

The groundwork for my adventure was laid in the summer of 1967, when five brand new missile ships, built in French shipbuilding facilities, floated silently in the harbor of Cherbourg, France. They had been bought and paid for by the Israel Navy but because of a French arms embargo could not be delivered to their new owners.

Under cover of darkness, groups of Israelis, disguised as dockworkers, quietly boarded the empty ships. When the sun rose over Cherbourg, Frenchmen were surprised to find the ships gone, steaming east over the Mediterranean, on their way to Israel.

Until the mid-1990s, the Satil and her four sister ships were used to defend Israel’s coast. They became obsolete when newer, more powerful, hi-tech missile ships replaced them.

Thirty years later, in 1997, an elite force of Israeli SEALS was dispatched on a secret mission in Lebanon. Details of the operation are still highly classified, but things went badly awry, and twelve Israeli commandos were killed.

As a memorial to their fallen comrades, the navy decided to purposely sink the Satil off the coast of Nahariya and create a permanent, artificial reef in their honor.

The Invitation

I was on assignment, writing articles about scuba diving on Israel’s Mediterranean coast for Skin Diver and Sport Diver magazines, when I met “David” (not his real name), a third-year student at the Hebrew University School of Dental Medicine. He offered to take me to a little-known dive site for a unique and memorable experience.

The Israel Ministry of Tourism sent Itamar, a well-known underwater photographer, and Orlian, an underwater model, to join us on our adventure. We signed in, prepared our gear, and filled our air tanks at the Nahariya Dive Center.

It was a quick and smooth ride in their 21-foot fiberglass boat to the wreck. With us in the boat were a tourist from Denmark, an exchange student from California, and three Israelis.

One of the Israeli divers had actually served on the sunken ship and described it to us in detail. It had four engines, traveled at 30 knots, was 105 feet long, weighed 57 tons, had a crew of 35 sailors, and had been fitted with missile launchers and more conventional gun emplacements. The wreck was sitting upright on the sea floor, at 80 feet, with its highest point at 51 feet. It was perfectly intact, although all armaments had been removed and all hatches sealed shut, to avoid any danger to divers.

Israeli soldiers have a macho reputation, but his voice cracked as he spoke emotionally about how proud he was to see his old ship serve as a fitting memorial to his comrades.

The other two Israelis refused to tell me why, but hinted at a surprise waiting for me on the ship’s deck below. The surprise had to do with the unusual way in which the 12 dead soldiers were memorialized.

A Gray Ghost

We descended the anchor line, and at 15 feet, the entire ship was perfectly visible as a barnacle-encrusted gray ghost on the sandy, grassy seabed. We swam to the middle of the starboard side and proceeded to the right, observing the flora and fauna that now called this artificial reef their home.

As we made our way forward toward the bow, we passed a sedentary stingray with a two-foot wingspan.

A group of a dozen triggerfish with characteristic thick lips floated by. Although triggerfish are not indigenous to the Mediterranean, local divers speculate that several species of Red Sea fish migrated to Israel’s Mediterranean coast through the Suez Canal. Without any natural predators there, the species thrives.

A solitary gray mullet eyed us suspiciously as we swam by, and several wrasse darted around the green sea grass.

Before reaching the bow, we ascended to the ship’s deck. The railings were aging rapidly, with the metal already rusted through in a few places.

It was then that I stopped dead in my tracks and realized what they meant when they promised that I was in for a surprise.

Twelve plain, empty chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around a commemorative plaque. On each chair was written the name of a slain commando. It was as if the twelve friends had stopped in the middle of a casual conversation and had walked away for a few moments, never to return again.

The scene evoked a strong emotional response in me. I watched, floating over the deck railing, as Itamar and Orlian took their photos. After a few moments, we resumed the dive. I peered through the open bridge windows, where the captain and crew stations were visible, electric cables still in place.

Toward the rear of the ship, we could see where the missile and gun batteries had been and saw a shy octopus, halfway out of a vertical pipe rising from the empty engine hatch.

After 25 minutes, we began our ascent along the anchor line. During a three-minute safety stop at 15 feet, I

It was then that I stopped dead in my tracks and realized what they meant when they promised that I was in for a surprise.

took one last look at the wreck below, its bow pointing straight east, toward the homes that the dead servicemen would never see again.

A Moment of Silence

Usually, after surfacing, divers chat excitedly while removing gear and comparing experiences. Not after this dive. Everyone stowed their gear silently, eyes averted.

Yaer, the owner of the dive boat, asked us to observe a moment of silence before starting the boat’s engine.

On the ride back, one of the Israeli divers, under the condition of anonymity, confided that he had been very close, militarily and socially, with the slain commander memorialized below.

“The commander was a very kind, soft-spoken, nice man,” he reminisced. “We were shocked when we heard of his death.”

One of the other local divers explained to me that Israel is a very small country, almost like one large family, and that everyone feels every casualty very acutely.

It could have been the salt spray in the air, but everyone on the boat seemed to have very moist eyes.

Dr. Jeffrey Galler is certified as a Master Diver by the Professional Association of Dive Instructors.

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All halachic documents are under the supervision of the Bais HaVaad in Lakewood.