By Joel Magalnick , Editor, JTNews
Unlike most of the consuls general that have represented Israel to the Pacific Northwest in past years, the one who recently stepped into the position is not a native Israeli. But the American-born Akiva Tor, who made aliyah nearly 25 years ago, has made his career in service to his country.
Tor made his first official visit to Seattle in early October, partly to speak at the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual fundraising dinner, but also to meet with various members of the Jewish community and players in the state’s economic arena, including Lt. Gov. Brad Owen. He also met with representatives of the Seattle-based Washington-Israel Business Coalition during his visit.
Tor said that economically speaking, the Northwest and Israel have much in common.
The Israeli government is “very interested in strengthening high-tech connections, particularly in the field of clean tech — renewable energy — between Israel and the area here in Washington and also in Silicon Valley,” he said. “We need to get these regions talking to each other.”
Strides have been made in both regions in recent years on the so-called green energy front, though in most cases independent of one another.
“In Israel there’s quite a lot of expertise in solar, some in geothermal. We’re working on wind as well,” Tor said. “There is definitely potential for a great synergy between the two regions, in terms of movement of capital, movement of technology — basically applied R&D cooperation, and that’s something we’re very interested in putting structures in place to help that happen.”
Israeli technology companies, like many in the Northwest, have been focused on alternative forms of energy not only because of the rising price of oil (before that sector’s recent collapse), but also as a national security imperative. In a speech Tor gave at the AIPAC fundraiser, he acknowledged how this region could help Israel with security.
“We can do a lot to boost Israel-Washington research and development for the creation of clean, renewable energy, and we can create new channels for the sharing of knowledge and technological know-how in making our securities more against terror and other threats,” he said.
Part of the consul general’s mission is to also stimulate venture capital — a job that will likely be much more difficult, given the recent economic collapse. It’s an issue that Tor said he would be watching and assessing closely.
The consul general has duties beyond the economic. There are, of course, the bureaucratic duties — facilitating and issuing visas, notarization services, working with its local citizens and expatriates — as well as engaging and educating the region’s population about his homeland and promoting Israel’s culture in the community at large. He also would like to help in facilitating opportunities for Jewish education and bringing young adults to Israel on trips such as Birthright. Tor cites working with college campuses to provide accurate information about the Jewish State as a priority as well.
But Tor said he has a specific agenda regarding what his country sees as its most existential threat: Iran.
“One of the things which is very important to do is to…help make this region and the rest of the United States aware of the threat of a nuclear Iran,” he said. “A number of states in the United States have passed ‘divest from Iran’ legislation…. We are working with large cities that have large pension funds to use their financial economic clout to make a statement about what Iran is doing and to stand up against it. That’s something that can happen here in Seattle as well and in other states in this region.”
The Washington State Investment Board, which oversees investments for the state’s public employees, passed a resolution earlier this year to divest from any foreign company that does business within Iran’s energy sector, but that resolution was a directive and does not bind the board’s actions.
While the consul general’s office would likely not directly be involved in pushing governmental bodies to pass such legislation, Tor said he would work with local organizations to provide support and information in such efforts. That was how the Northwest’s previous consul general, David Akov, worked with local organizations such as StandWithUs, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and the American Jewish Committee when those agencies fought against the defunct Seattle municipal initiative 97. I-97 would have directed the city’s pension board to divest from certain companies that profit from Israel’s military presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Tor, whose four-year stint as consul general began August 1, has a long history of public service. The son of a Hillel rabbi, he grew up in Cleveland and made aliyah upon graduation from Columbia University. He served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a paratrooper, and spent a year at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government studying Jewish values in the foreign policy of Israel, “a topic which I’m very interested in,” he said.
Over the past decade, Tor, 47, has served as World Jewish Affairs adviser to the president of Israel, as director of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, as deputy director for Palestinian affairs in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as press and information attaché at the Israel Embassy in the Hague.
His wife Naomi is a social worker and they have four children.
Tor said he looks forward to spending time with the communities in his region and getting to understand Jewish life in the Northwest.
“It’s hard to measure it, but an important mission is to work with the Jewish community to help strengthen the vitality of Jewish life,” he said. “Our job is to represent Israel well, and to help Israel be an inspiration for vitality in Jewish life.”