Speaking April 23 at an Israeli Independence Day celebration on the Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus, David Baker suggested his listeners become "vocal locals" who write pro-Israel articles and letters to the editors of newspapers.

"You can thereby help Israel by getting our story out there," said Baker, Olmert's senior foreign press coordinator.

According to Baker, who made aliya 22 years ago from Queens and became a government press representative in 2000, Israel is a "goldmine" for the 400 foreign correspondents stationed there.

He said he has "very high regard" for many of them.

But he complained that others report the story "in a very lopsided way, preferring to see a Western power, Israel, in a Tom and Jerry battle against the Palestinians in a pre-concocted, cookie-cutter story line."

Max Kleinman, executive vice president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, asked Baker about a vote by the British National Union of Journalists to boycott Israeli goods.

"Israel does not retaliate against journalists because of faulty coverage, as enticing as that may sound to some people," said Baker. "Israel is not Chad. Israel is a mighty Western democracy. You take your lumps sometimes. That's a lump that we take."

He called the boycott vote "off the wall. But quite frankly, with the reporting of these very same journalists, it doesn't surprise me."

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