Federation's annual meeting hosts Israeli spokesman

By Seth Mandel

June 20, 2008

Headlining the joint annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren Counties and the Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center June 12, Israeli spokesman David Baker spoke with The Jewish State on a range of Israel-related topics.

Baker is the senior foreign press coordinator in the Prime Minister's Office, and addressed both the annual meeting and the preceding dinner, held at the JCC in Bridgewater.

The Jewish Federation, Baker said, has been active in the defense and wellbeing of the state of Israel, including its work on behalf of new immigrants, ELI, Pups for Peace, Meir Panim, and its efforts on behalf of Israel's less fortunate.

"And this is also a community that during Israel's most trying times of recent years -- the years of terrorism -- area code 908 always stuck very closely to area code 02 and 03 and other area codes affected by the wave of terror directed against Israel in the early years of the Palestinian campaign of terror," Baker said. "Central Jersey Jews don't scare too easily, and they stick with us and we appreciate that."

Baker said that when he travels to Jewish communities abroad, he is commonly asked about the peace process, Iran, quality of life in Israel, social gaps, the aftermath of the Lebanon war, and most often aliyah.

He said he is almost always approached by Jews looking to make aliyah, or at least interested in how they would go about starting the process.

"And they have to know that it's important to us, and that they're welcome to come, and that we want them and we need them," Baker said. "Because Israel needs aliyah; Israel's lifeline is aliyah."

Originally from Queens, Baker has lived in Israel for 23 years now. The move can be difficult, he said, but life in Israel is very rewarding. He has two daughters, one of which is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

"If I believe in one miracle, it's Israel," Baker said. "And in my lifetime, to be able to get a piece of it, and to latch on to it is something which I'm really and truly grateful for, as difficult as it is."

Baker has served in his current position since August 2000, and said he enjoys working with the press and working for the Israeli government.

When asked about the concern by many that Israel is experiencing a "brain drain" in which Israel-educated professionals seek jobs outside the country, Baker said that successful efforts have been made to bring back Israeli-trained high-tech professionals, and that they will continue to make such efforts in all segments of the work force.

"Israel has given the world a lot of brains, and we want them back," Baker said, adding that Israel leads the world in patents per capita, the shekel has appreciated by 25 percent in the last year, investments in Israeli firms is up, and the Jewish community in Israel continues to outpace the growth of every other Jewish community worldwide.

"We trained them, we educated them, they certainly made their contributions to the world," Baker said. "We need these people, we need immigrants -- olim -- we need new immigrants, and we need the people that have left, we'd like them to come back and to be able to pursue a rich, Jewish Israeli experience."

But Baker -- and indeed Israeli officials -- are also proud of the knowledge Israel offers the world, and considers it incumbent upon itself to augment existing educational programs in Jewish communities throughout the world.

"One of Israel's best export items is Jewish education," he said. "It can't just be that Israel only receives from our brethren overseas, we also have to be able, in my view, to give something to them to help sustain them."

Baker was asked by The Jewish State about a younger generation of Diaspora Jews that were born after Israel's existential conflicts of 1948 through its peace agreement with Egypt in 1979, and how that might affect that generation's perception of current threats facing the country. Baker responded that although many young Jews came of age during an absence of perceived existential threats, "You've got one now with Iran."

Baker said Iran has been clearly pursuing a nuclear weapons program while promising to destroy Israel, and thus far diplomacy and sanctions have been unsuccessful in persuading the mullahs to abandon that program. However, Baker said, that does not mean diplomacy, sanctions, and other nonmilitary options should be cast aside.

"We believe that diplomatic and economic sanctions, if applied effectively, can be pivotal in causing the Iranians to stop this program," Baker said, but reiterated that the threat is real.

"Iran is sending the world a wake-up call, and this is no time to hit the snooze button," he said.

On the issue of Zionism, Baker was asked if the word has been hijacked by anti-Israel forces seeking to portray it as militant and colonialist. Baker said the Israeli government is concerned about those who continue to deny Israel's right to exist as Zionist state.

"Israel reasserts its right to be a national homeland -- meaning a state for the Jewish people -- based on our legitimate ancestral and historic rights," Baker said. "This is something that we defend, it is something that we cherish, and something that if we have to, we'll fight for. And we're currently still fighting those who deny our existence and our right to exist as a Jewish state in our own land. And we'll continue to do so."

Central to Israeli public discourse is the Arab-Israeli conflict and its recent manifestations as centering on the Gaza- and West Bank-based Arabs. Yet, both the Second Lebanon War of 2006 and the current Iranian threat have taken the fore. Baker was asked if there is a pattern of seemingly front-burner crises that push the peace process out of the limelight of Israeli consciousness.

Baker responded that while those threats must be dealt with, they by no means demote the significance of the peace process.

"We persevere with both defending ourselves and seeking peace with the same vigilance," Baker said. "We want both. One does not preclude the other."

In fact, Baker said, "it's unacceptable" that younger Israelis haven't known peace in their time, and that the peace process will always be taken seriously as a first and foremost responsibility of the leadership of both sides in the conflict.

Within Israeli society, The Jewish State spoke with Baker about the integration of Haredi Israelis into the IDF, which has been a point of contention between supporters and opponents of conscription exceptions.

Baker said the ultra-Orthodox segment of Israeli society brings to the table a set of very good analytical skills, and have therefore been recently incorporated into the army as computer programmers and analysts. The program has been good for the army, the public service sector, and for the Haredim themselves, Baker said.

"And they come with this amazing ability to be able to process information and to analyze information, and they've really made a name for themselves in certain areas," Baker said. "And it's important, because we're one people, even if we have differences."

Finally, on Israeli villages commonly referred to as settlements and portrayed as an obstacle to peace, Baker said there are many differing opinions on them, because Israel is a multicultural society with a free and open atmosphere of public debate. Regardless of opinion, Baker said, the settlers are an important part of Israel and reliable defenders of the Jewish state.

Whatever the final status agreements decide on the settlements, he added, their inhabitants should never be separated from Israeli society, nor should their status as Israelis be questioned or denigrated.

"These are true pioneers -- people who defend Israel, and people who are a really important part of the fabric of Israel," Baker said. "And that's irrespective of what may ever be the outcome of any potential peace deal."