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Sept. 30, 2005
Getting all the facts straight
Israeli PMO representative spends his time fixing misperceptions.
PAT JOHNSON
The Gaza disengagement was personally painful for Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, says his senior foreign press co-ordinator.
David Baker spoke to the Independent during a Vancouver visit
last week, when he addressed the annual opening membership evening
of Hadassah-WIZO.
"The prime minister, I think, took it personally," Baker
said. "He's a very hands-on prime minister. He cares about
his people. The very fact that he had to give the orders and he
had to make the painful decisions, starting with him, of course
confirmed by the cabinet and by the Knesset, but he's at the top
of the pyramid. He takes the brunt of the responsibility."
Baker was in Gaza during the withdrawal and witnessed Israeli soldiers
and police forcibly removing residents, but said the procedure was
thankfully relatively peaceful.
"The message is Israel is ready for peace, willing and ready
and fully cognizant of the fact that the Palestinians must meet
us half way and do their part to clamp down on terrorism, to incarcerate
terrorists, to stop the revolving door of the prisons where the
prisoners who are apprehended are released shortly thereafter,"
said Baker, who is also a former journalist. "For that we need
a partner. We don't yet see that partner in the fullest sense of
the word because they have not taken those aforementioned steps."
Baker said the next step is undecided. Whether 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 has said there is only one disengagement,"
said Baker. "It's a bit early to talk about what will happen
in the future of the West Bank, but the prime minister has mentioned
a number of times that he envisions the large settlement clusters
to be 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.
"Israel has made extensive efforts to get their 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 the reality of everyday life for Israelis,
he said, is not so easily conveyed through TV footage.
"You tell me – if my daughter couldn't visit the Ben-Yehuda
Mall in Jerusalem with her friends in the last few years because
of a father who is fearful of terrorism, you tell me exactly who's
suffering in this conflict," said Baker.
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 was a true story. It was a story
that deserved to be on TV about how a family lost their plum crop.
They were offered compensation, but their industry was devastated.
I felt sorry for the guy. They had three or four generations of
the family talking. There was no Israeli response. There's no way
you could look at that story based on what they gave you and have
any kind of depth and information as to why Israel did [what it
did]. So I told them, had you given me eight seconds – eight
seconds out of a three-minute piece – to say we've lost 1,000
Israelis to terrorism, this fence is put up to stop them in their
tracks ... that would have given the story a whole different context."
As a rule of thumb, Baker said, "You know there's something
wrong with a story when you see it on TV and there's no other 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, the third largest concentration behind Washington and
Moscow. These reporters continually need to find stories and, for
television news, the 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
Corp. for its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Baker
played down any animosity.
"We have a dialogue with the CBC," he said. "There
have been certain issues that have been raised by the foreign ministry
with the CBC and other media in Israel. We do put [spokes]people
on the CBC. We have a good working relationship with the CBC."
In addition to the Vancouver event, Baker was invited by Canadian
Hadassah-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 the
audience.
The 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 them live with us in Israel," said Baker,
who is no relation to Alan Baker, the Israeli ambassador to Canada
who shares his surname.
The event at a Richmond hotel marked the beginning of a new season
for local Hadassah chapters. Vancouver Hadassah-WIZO council president
Daniella Givon spoke 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 the organization.
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest,
www.mvox.ca.
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