Envoy to Israel comes home for break following Nazi flap

Ambassador to Israel Antonio Modena, who stirred a controversy by criticizing the Israeli immigration police for its treatment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), flew back to Manila yesterday to report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.

Modena confirmed that he had already issued an apology over his "insensitive" remarks against his host country but stressed this would not be the end of it.

"I have issued an apology to the Israeli government over some insensitive remarks I made, but I am still pursuing the maltreatment (of) our OFWs by Israeli airport officials," Modena said during an interview upon his arrival at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Modena arrived aboard a Gulf Air flight at 1 p.m. He said he came home to report the matter to Romulo.

"I have to report to Secretary Romulo firsthand what transpired, it’s a procedure" he said.

He added that he would also meet with officials of the Departments of Tourism, Agriculture and Trade and Industry to discuss Philippine products that the Philippines could trade with Israel.

Modena was asked to apologize by the Israeli minister of interior after an outburst in a magazine interview in which he likened Israeli immigration authorities to the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, and called them racists.

His comments were preceded by an observation he made in a letter to the editor to the Jerusalem Post that was subsequently published as an opinion column in which he noted that, during the Holocaust — while the rest of the civilized world was silent — the Philippines was quick to respond to the Kristallnacht (German for "crystal night"), condemning the Nazis in editorials published on Nov. 17, 1938.

On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, Jewish shops throughout Germany and Austria were smashed in a pogrom that lasted into the early hours of the following day.

Modena pointed out that the administration of Manuel L. Quezon at that time also resulted in the issuance of US visas to Jews for travel to the Philippines, which was then a US colony, a move that saved thousands of Jews from Nazi concentration camps.

Modena said it pained him that despite the absence of racism, any history of anti-Semitism or religious prejudice by Filipinos, Israeli immigration police and security personnel "physically and verbally abused" Filipino migrant workers at Ben Gurion airport.

"At Ben Gurion Airport, our citizens are often held back until all Caucasians have cleared immigration and customs and then subjected to two photographic and finger-printing sessions as if they are criminals," he complained.

His grievances immediately drew support from Israeli academe, the business community and other like-minded citizens.

Modena said he was forced to go to the media after the Interior Ministry had ignored several official and diplomatic complaints he had lodged.

However, Interior Minister Ophir Paz-Pines did not find Modena’s statement to his liking and demanded a public apology.

Paz-Pines said Modena’s complaint was limited to a few other countries that made similar claims such as France, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa and Thailand.

According to Modena, around 50 other ambassadors who attended their meeting shared his sentiment and those of other envoys.

Modena vowed to pursue his complaint regarding the maltreatment of OFWs in Israel, saying that it was his mandate as a Filipino diplomat to fight for Filipinos’ rights in their posts.

"The protection, the promotion of the rights of the Filipinos, whether legal or illegal, is the mandate given by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to all diplomats abroad."