{"id":29671,"date":"2018-07-20T03:56:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T10:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=29671"},"modified":"2018-07-18T13:00:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T20:00:55","slug":"consul-general-speaks-with-ji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/07\/20\/consul-general-speaks-with-ji\/","title":{"rendered":"Consul general speaks with JI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consul General Galit Baram was in Vancouver last month. (photo from Consulate of Israel)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Galit Baram, consul general of Israel to Toronto and Western Canada, was in Vancouver last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe visit was very good,\u201d she told the Independent<\/em> in a phone interview. \u201cIt included some political meetings and an academic meeting and I addressed the Jewish community and I attended the Negev Dinner of the JNF…. I had the opportunity to see the city, which is beautiful, and the weather was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baram will be returning to Vancouver in November, when the late Dirk Pieter and Klaasje Kalkman will be honoured as Righteous Among the Nations for the assistance they provided to Jews during the Holocaust. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with Yad Vashem Canada and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Baram\u2019s June meetings explored the opportunities of expanding cooperation between Israel and British Columbia in innovation and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that there is great potential in economic cooperation between Israel and British Columbia,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The provincial government, she said, \u201cis making its initial steps now\u2026. There is interest, there is curiosity, there is awareness of what Israel has to offer in innovation, in the medical field. When it comes to pharma, when it comes to cybersecurity, Israel is a leading country in the international arena in many of these fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had very good relations with the previous government and we hosted a mission \u2026 in November of 2016, a mission that was led by then-minister of finance [Michael] de Jong; there were representatives of different business sectors in British Columbia\u2026. [It] is our intention to work very closely with the current government as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The change in the federal government in 2015 also hasn\u2019t affected Canada-Israel cooperation. On May 28, in Montreal, Fran\u00e7ois-Phillippe Champagne, minister of international trade, and Eli Cohen, Israel\u2019s minister of the economy and industry, announced the signing of the modernized Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.<\/p>\n

Cohen spent two days in Canada, said Baram, adding, \u201cI hope that Minister Champagne will soon reciprocate and visit Israel as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe this is very important to have visits on such a high level \u2026 because I believe that governments can contribute greatly to bringing countries together. But we have to remember that, at a certain point, governments have to take a step back and leave it up to the business sector and the private sector to build bridges and to bring the countries together, but, as governments on both sides, Israel and Canada, we do as much as we can in order to strengthen and broaden our bilateral relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baram also sees the possibility of building a groundwork for peace in Israel through business and trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that economic mobility plays an integral role in bringing communities together,\u201d she said, \u201cand we are watching with pride the growing high-tech sector in the Israeli-Arab community, especially in the Greater Haifa area, in cities such as Nazareth\u2026. We would like to see more Israeli-Arab students concentrating on science, concentrating on business, in business management and innovation and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to building social bridges between Israelis and Palestinians, not necessarily Jews and Arabs, there are many activities that concentrate on that \u2026 and they are conducted by civil societies in Israel and it is heartwarming to see that. I would like to mention the activity of an organization such as Save a Child\u2019s Heart \u2026 [which] brings children to Israel [for cardiac care] from Arab countries, from the Middle East, from Muslim countries in general, and they do wonderful, wonderful things in building bridges\u2026. Another example I can give you is the upcoming visit of Dr. Yossi Leshem, one of Israel\u2019s greatest experts on bird migration \u2013 he is going to be in Vancouver towards the end of August and he will be accompanied by his friends from [elsewhere in] the Middle East, and they are going to present beautiful regional projects in a conference that will be held in Vancouver\u2026. Two other organizations that I would like to mention \u2026 are Ultimate Peace, that organizes Frisbee tournaments for youth \u2026 and another project, by Danny Hakim \u2013 Budo for Peace \u2013 teaches martial arts to Israeli Jews and Arabs, Palestinians, Jordanians and others, and they have instructors coming to Israel from Japan and from other countries\u2026. I believe that such organizations can do so much good for Israeli society in general, for the Palestinians and for neighbouring countries in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there are significant obstacles to peace, not the least of which are the ongoing altercations at the Gaza border.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the situation on the Gaza border, we are facing some very serious challenges,\u201d admitted Baram. \u201cIt is an uphill battle. We see that there is sometimes a deterioration, sometimes the situation stabilizes a little bit and then there is another deterioration, the situation changes constantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many, many challenges on a daily basis that are facing not only IDF [Israel Defence Forces] soldiers and the Palestinian civilian populations, but also the civilian population on the Israeli side of the border. Sometimes there is a tendency to forget about them but there are families, there are entire communities, that raise their children on the Israeli side of the border and because of this intifada of burning kites and balloons, they have to deal with arson cases on a daily basis, with a loss of crops and forest in the south of Israel, and it\u2019s heartbreaking to see that because so much work has been put into making the desert bloom, especially in those regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cThe one very disappointing thing for me to see as a former director of the department for Palestinian affairs was the fact that the Kerem Shalom border crossing that was built in the first place to enable trucks to enter Gaza was burned down by Hamas activists and by other terrorists and it\u2019s a shame to see that because so much money was invested in that, so much effort was done in order to make trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and especially Gaza, easier and simpler for us but especially for the civilian population in Gaza. And it\u2019s difficult to see a civilian population that is being held captive by a terror organization\u2026. Of course, there is awareness of the situation in Israel and understanding that the main enemy that has to be dealt with is definitely Hamas and not the people of Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Canadian government\u2019s initial statements after the violent March of Return protests \u2013 in which Canada admonished Israel, saying its \u201cuse of excessive force and live ammunition is inexcusable,\u201d and called \u201cfor an immediate independent investigation to thoroughly examine the facts on the ground\u201d \u2013 Baram said, \u201cI would like to mention that, after Hamas started attacking Israel, [with] renewed rocket attacks to the south of Israel, there were statements that were released by Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau and by Minister of Foreign Affairs [Chrystia] Freeland condemning Hamas for this activity and I believe we should concentrate on these statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Canada\u2019s reluctance to move its embassy to Jerusalem?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to Jerusalem,\u201d said Baram, \u201cwe believe that all countries should move their embassies to the capital of Israel and the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Every sovereign country has the right of defining and choosing its own capital and we believe that we don\u2019t have to prove over and over again the story connecting the people of Israel and the land of Israel, between the people of Israel and its eternal capital, Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n

With respect to the almost 40,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel, Baram said, \u201cWe have to remember that the first Western country that these people from Africa, from Eritrea, from Sudan, asylum seekers, work migrants \u2013 define them as you wish \u2013 the first Western country they encounter is Israel. And, several years ago, many of them came to Israel\u2026. This is never an easy issue to deal with because the personal stories are very emotional and very difficult, and these people, many of them have been through terrible ordeals, until they reached Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue of migration in general \u2026 is an issue that is dealt with in Europe and in other parts of the world,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the Middle East, for example, the issue of Syrian refugees is a very big issue that many countries deal with and, now, Syrian refugees, for example, are coming knocking on the doors of European countries, as well, but this is a problem that many Middle Eastern countries have dealt with for quite awhile, a long time now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the African refugees or asylum seekers or work migrants, definitely a solution must be found in order to protect them, protect their rights. On the other hand, we have to keep the sovereignty of the state of Israel and we cannot allow floods of refugees entering Israel because we have to think about our population and \u2026 providing an answer that would satisfy all parties involved. This is not easy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And neither is Israel\u2019s relationship with Diaspora Jews always easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at Israeli society, you see that the public debate in Israel is very heated and emotional,\u201d said Baram. \u201cThis is how we do things in Israel. People are very opinionated \u2026 they don\u2019t hide their views and opinions, and I think this is wonderful. This is the strength of Israeli democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recalled a statement made by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin about a year ago. \u201cHe talked about the four tribes of Israeli society, and he referred to secular Jews, to Orthodox Zionists Jews, to the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel and to Israeli Arabs\u2026. And he called for these four tribes to join hands to discuss the future of Israeli society for the benefit of the country. Later on, he added the fifth tribe \u2026 and I believe this is very important to mention that the fifth tribe is Diaspora Jews because Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people\u2026. I am actually very encouraged when I visit Jewish communities throughout Canada and people ask me sometimes challenging questions \u2026 about the nature of Israel and about the nature of Israeli society, and what should be done and what is done correctly, or what should be corrected in Israel. I encourage that and I welcome it, because it shows love and devotion and interest in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I encourage people to come visit Israel and express their opinions and to keep us Israeli diplomats on our toes \u2026 and I thank Jewish communities for participating in this ongoing discussion. I think this is vital not only for Israel by the way \u2013 this ongoing discussion is vital for Diaspora Jews as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

To participate in and to follow some of that discussion, follow the consulate on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consul General Galit Baram was in Vancouver last month. (photo from Consulate of Israel) Galit Baram, consul general of Israel to Toronto and Western Canada, was in Vancouver last month. \u201cThe visit was very good,\u201d she told the Independent in a phone interview. \u201cIt included some political meetings and an academic meeting and I addressed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6309,6422,3157,6194,1200,3200,8287,687,4330,4712],"class_list":["post-29671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-consul-general","tag-diaspora","tag-economics","tag-galit-baram","tag-gaza","tag-israel","tag-trade"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}