By the Associated Press
A Filipina has broken the Guinness record for producing the world’s largest flag, which unfurled Sunday beneath the ancient Jewish desert strongpoint of Masada covering a large stretch of sandy hinterland.
Filipino entrepreneur and evangelical Christian Grace Galindez-Gupana said she decided two years ago to produce a giant Israeli flag as a testament to her love for Israel and the Jewish people, and as a celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Israel.
The huge blue and white Israeli flag, 660 meters (2,165 feet) long and 100 meters (330 feet) wide and weighing 5.2 metric tons, breaks the record for the world’s largest, according to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
It was measured by representatives of the Guinness Book of Records.
“God spoke to me in thunder and lightning,†Galindez-Gupana said. “The Lord said, ‘Make the flag of Israel, the standard of my people.’
“This is a tall order,†she said, as she broke down in tears.
The record-breaking Israeli flag was accompanied by a giant Philippines flag – huge, but not quite as big. It weighed “only†about 3.8 metric tons.
Large stones anchored both flags as they billowed in the desert winds.
They were made in the Philippines and shipped to Israel days ago, said Daniel Rozen, spokesman for Living Stone Ministries, a group that helped bring the flags to Israel.
There are about 31,000 Filipinos in Israel, most of whom are foreign workers, said Gilberto Asuque, consul general of the Philippine Embassy in Israel.
“This flag expresses the friendship between the Philippines and the state of Israel, and also the friendship between Jewish and Christian communities,†said Shaul Zemach, director of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
This months marks the 50th year of diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Israel, according to Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Zvi Vapni, who recalled that President Manuel Quezon of the Commonwealth era had opened the country’s doors to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in the years leading to the Pacific War.
Vapni said that Quezon’s “open door policy†came at a time when other countries refused Jews entry.
History books relate how the Commonwealth president set up a housing project for Jewish refugees in Markina and was planning to set up a farm settlement for 35,000 Jews in Mindanao during World War II.
But the war closed escape routes during Adolf Hitler’s holocaust campaign.
The life of some 1,850 German and Austrian Jews who took refuge in Manila was documented in the book “Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror†by Frank Ephraim, one of the children who joined their parents in their escape to the Philippines, published last year.
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