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February 22, 2002
Back Israel, urges consul
State seeks moral and economic support from Canadians.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
The World Trade Centre attack has given Americans and Canadians
a greater sense of vulnerability and more empathy for the situation
of Israelis, according to Israel's consul general responsible for
Western Canada, Meir Romem. Romem was in Vancouver last week meeting
with community representatives, including the Bulletin.
He said that, especially in Toronto, where he is based, people viewed
the attacks as dangerously close to home, a threat North Americans
have not faced in decades.
Another issue Romem addressed, which has been discussed in this
paper, is the Israeli demolition of some Arab homes, primarily in
Gaza, but also in Jerusalem.
"We have to distinguish between two types of home demolition,"
he said. "Home demolitions in Jerusalem are [aimed at] people
who have built illegally. It doesn't matter whether you're Jewish.
If I build something illegally, without the permission of the authorities,
they will demolish it.
"What we do is 100 per cent legitimate and legal."
The other issue is home demolitions in areas controlled by the Palestinian
Authority. In these cases, said Romem, the army destroys homes that
are on the frontier and which are used as bases from which to fire
on Israeli encampments or which are storage places for stockpiled
armaments.
"There are military reasons for it," he said. "It's
not that someone gets up one morning and decides to demolish houses."
But his main purpose in visiting the West Coast, he said, was to
urge the Jewish community to continue its strong support of Israel
and to promote further economic co-operation between this region
and the Jewish state.
Romem said he was disturbed by reports in the Bulletin, in
which members of British Columbia's Jewish community were critical
of certain Israeli policies. The middle of an intifada is not the
time to criticize, he stated.
"I want the Jewish community to stand behind Israel,"
said the diplomat. "When you are here, so far away, and we
are in a war against terrorism, I think Israel deserves to be supported
- fully supported - by the Jewish community. If they have any reservations,
they should delay them and raise them when the situation is completely
different, not when Israel is at war against a vicious enemy, which
is not deterred from killing innocent civilians."
On the economic front, Romem met with representatives of the B.C.
government and encouraged them to get involved with Israel. The
high-tech base of British Columbia's economy is perfectly suited
to further co-operation with the technological industries of Israel,
he said. Also like this province, Israel is undergoing an economic
recession, which Romem blamed partly on the world economy and partly
on the collapse of his country's tourism sector since the latest
spate of violence erupted.
Rather than deterring investment, however, the situation should
encourage venture capitalists, he said.
"This is the best time to invest in Israel because, when the
recession is over, the fruits of investment will be much higher,"
he said.
Romem met with the leaders of Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish
Federation of Greater Vancouver as well as the shlichim (Israeli
representatives) in Vancouver. He also paid a courtesy visit to
Catholic Archbishop Adam Exner and spoke to the Rotary Club in Ladner.
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