Connections
Getting all the facts straight
Israeli PMO representative spends his time fixing misperceptions.
PAT JOHNSON
"^lie Gaza disengagement was personally painful for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, says hLs senior foreign press co-ordinator.
David Baker spoke to tlie Iiuk>-pendant during a Vancouver visit hist week, when he addressed the annual opening meml^erehip evening of Hadassah-WIZO.
"Tlie prime minister, I think, took it personally," Baker said. "He's a very liandson prime minister. He cares about his people. Tlie very fact tliat he had to give the orders and he had to make tlie painful decisions, starting witli him, of course confirmed by tlie cabinet and by the Knesset, but he's at the top of the pyramid. He takes the brunt of the re-.sponsibility."
Baker was in Gaza during the withdrawal and witnessed Israeli soldiers and police forcibly removing residents, but said the procedure was tliankfully relatively peaceful.
"The message is Israel is ready for peace, willing and ready and fully cognizant of tlie fact that the Palestinians must meet us halfway and do their part to clamp down on terrorism, to incarcerate terrorists, to stop the revolving door of tlie prisons where tlie prisoners who are apprehended are released shortly Uiereafter," said Baker, who is also a former journalist. "For tliat we need a partner. We don't yet see that partner in tlie fullest sense of tlie word Ixi-cause they have not taken those aforementioned steps."
Baker said the next step is undecided. Wlietlier Israel will withdraw from the territories in the West Bank is a matter for the future, but Baker said Sharon has tipped his hand.
'The prime minister lias said tlieie is only one disengagement," said Baker. "It's a bit early to talk alx)ut wliat will liappen in tlie fuuin.* of tlie West Bank, but tlie prime minister has mentioned a numlx'r of times tliat he envisioas llie hrge settlement clusters to Ix" an integral and eternal part of Israel."
Baker spoke to the crowd of about 80 of the challenges Israel faces in getting a fair shake in the international media.
"Isniel has made extensive efforts to get tlieir message out," he said. Israeli tanks or armed personnel moving into Palestinian villages has provided vivid imagery for an international media that thrives on conflict, but tlie reality of everyday life for Israelis, he said, is not so eas-
ily conveyed tJirougli TV footage.
"You tell me - if my daughter couldn't visit the Ben-Yehuda Mall in Jeni-saleni witli her friends in tlie last few years because of a father who is fearful of terrorism, you tell me ex-actly who's suffering in this conflict," said Baker.
David Baker, Ariel Sharon's senior foreign press co-ordinator, says the disengagement was personally painnil for the prime minister.
There is a variety of reasons why international media produce coverage that many deem unfair, he said.
"Sometimes it's reasons of expediency, sometimes it's being sloppy, sometimes it's because they want a story to be in a certain mold," he said. "For example, a few years ago, a major cable news network did a story about land expropriations to make way for Israel's security fence. It w.is a tnie story. It was a story tliat deserved to be on TV about how a family lost their plum crop. Tliey were offered compensation, but their industry was devastated. I felt sorry for flie guy. lliey had tJiree or four generations of the family talking, lliere was no Isnieli response. Tliere's no way you could look at tliat story based on what they gave you and have any kind of deptli and infoniiation ;is to wliy Israel did [what it did]. So I told them, had you given nie eiglit seconds - eight seconds out of a tliree-minute piece - to say we've lost 1,000 Israelis to terrorism, tliis fence is put up to stop tlieni in flieir tracks... tliat would have given tlie story a whole diffeix;nt context."
As a rule of thumb. Baker said, "You know there's something wrong witli a story when you see it on TV and there's no otlier conclusion you can get [but] one."
One of the reasons that Israel might come off poorly in international news reports. Baker said, is
that there are 400 foreign correspondents in Israel, tlie tJiird largest concentration Ixliind Washington and Moscow. Tliese reporters continually need to find stories and, for television news, Uie stories have to have gripping, graphic images. (During the disengagement. Baker noted, the foreign press ranks swelled to 2,500.)
Though some audience members lambasted the Canadian Broadcasting Oarp. for its coverage of llie Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Baker played down any animosity. "We have a dialogue with the CBC," he said. "There have been certain issues tliat have been raised by tlie foreign ministry witli the CBC and other media in Israel. We do put [spokeslpeople on tlie CBC. We have a good working relationship with the CBC." , / In addition to tlie Vancou-
ver event, Baker was invited by Canadian Hadassali-WIZO to speak at meetings in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Hamilton. He is also making several stops in the United States.
"I would never say no to Canadian Hadassah-WIZO because Canadian Hadassah-WIZO would never say no to Israel," Baker told tlie audience.
Tlie press co-ordinator also heaped praise on the Vancouver Jewish community.
"The Vancouver Jewish community is an essential part of the world Jewish community and ... a community that we cherish ... and we certainly look forward to their continued support, investing in Israel and continuing to send their children to Israel and we'd certainly like to see tliem live witli us in Israel," said Baker, who is no relation to Alan Baker, the Israeli amba.ssador to Canad;i who shares his surname.
Tlie event at a Richmond hotel marked the beginning of a new season for local Hadassah chapters. Vancouver Hadassah-WIZO council president Daniella Givon si>oke of the work her organization does in Canada, Israel and elsewhere, fighting poverty, opposing violence against women and caring for children and women. The meeting also presented Naomi Frankenburg and Judy Mandelman with "Hadassah diamond"-encrusted pins recognizing years of service to tlie organization. S
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX MuUicuhwxil Digest, www.mvox.ca
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