Seeking A Stronger Internet Presence
MK Michael Eitan, considered the Knesset's Internet expert, led a special session this week on Israel's public-relations presence on the
Internet. The MKs discussed ways to intensify Israelšs efforts in this field and provide an adequate response to the thousands of
pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sites on the Internet. Guests at the session included members of the "Al Yisrael"volunteer organization,
created by academics and intellectuals specifically for this problem, as well as Internet experts and representatives of the Foreign Ministry,
the Prime Minister's Office, the IDF, Israel Police, the Jewish Agency and others.
Speakers presented a sorry picture of a plethora of virulently anti-Israel sites operating in several languages, while pro-Israel sites are
fewer and are generally limited to Hebrew and English. (Arutz-7's website and e-mail reports appear in Hebrew, English, French, and
Russian.) It was agreed that intensive action must be taken to increase the number of sites capable of promoting Israeli interests, improve
existing sites, and enable existing sites to figure prominently on various search engines.
=========================
Same week on Internet disparities
Israel lagging behind in Web
information war
By Judy Siegel February, 13 2002
JERUSALEM (February 13), - Israel's use of the Internet to disseminate its point of view in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "one of the biggest failures in the information campaign," MK Nehama
Ronen said yesterday during a joint session of the Knesset Science and Technology Committee and
Defense Committee. She said that she found 3,000 to 4,000 pro-Palestinian Web sites "directed from
above," while Israel has nothing comparable.
MK Michael Eitan, who chaired the session, said thousands of young Israeli and Diaspora Jewish
Internet aficianados should join chat groups, establish pro-Israeli sites, and send e-mails to explain
the Israeli position. Eitan, an Internet expert among MKs, said computer viruses and other means that
could harm the Internet should not be used to harm hostile sites. Private citizens cannot declare war;
that's the prerogative of a state, he said.
Hanna Ziv, a writer and deputy director of Al Yisrael (Center for Information on Israel), told the MKs
the Islamic world has established a powerful propaganda network with anti-Semitic messages linking
Nazism, racism, and Zionism. "When we saw it and the failures of Israeli information on the Net, we
decided to set up a voluntary organization to give... ideas for all public streams," he said.
Israel Radio's Internet expert Eli Hacohen said that there are at least five Hizbullah Web sites and a
personal one for each of its leaders. They use servers in the US and the Middle East. Hacohen advised
using an integrated approach of chats, discussion groups, and sites and that there be a central body
to coordinate the effort and ensure that sites appear not only in Hebrew and English, but in other
languages as well.
The state has two active sites, said Uri Noy of the Foreign Ministry's information and Internet
department: the Army Spokesman and the Foreign Ministry. Israeli embassies and consulates abroad
will soon open Web sites in various languages, including the local tongues. "The Palestinians violate
copyright laws all the time, but we must observe the law, and this is the right thing to do. We are a
moral country, and we are proud that we observe the rules. We do not lie," Noy said. Eitan promised
to consult with the participants and transmit ideas and concrete proposals to Minister Tzipi Livni, who
is responsible for the information campaign, and to the prime minister.
ARUTZ SHEVA, website, week of 15, February, 2002,
=========================
Some months later, May 2002:
On Internet disparities
TORONTO - Terrorist groups are using the Internet to recruit international suicide bombers,
the Simon Wiesenthal Center said yesterday.
The Los Angeles-based organization found two sites, one in Iran and the other in Gaza. With a few clicks of a
mouse and the keying-in of basic contact information, volunteers can enlist for an attack on the United States or Israel.
"It's very difficult these days to be shocked about anything, especially for people at our centre, but
I think it's very shocking," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the centre.
"We're still reeling from 9/11 and now with the recent announcements from the President of
the United States, we don't know when the next shoe is going to fall. These sites sustain
that hatred and empower terrorists. It's downright frightening."
The Los Angeles-based centre launched Digital Hate 2002, its fourth CD-ROM report, in
Toronto yesterday. It contains information on 200 Web sites that use the Internet to
promote intolerance and terrorism. It is primarily intended to help law enforcement
agencies inform themselves on the growing number of hate organizations using the Web.
The range of hate sites the report exposes is wide, but they represent only a fraction
of the 3,300 sites the centre considers "problematic."
As well as the suicide enrollment sites, the report notes sites offering free,
online video games where children can play at being a virtual suicide bomber
or engage in ethnic cleansing as a KKK member or skinhead.
It also discovered a growing number of sites propagating the theory that the United
States itself commissioned the Sept. 11 attacks.
''Cyberspace is the new weapon of choice for terrorists and the promotion of the 'big lie' tactics,''
Rabbi Cooper said. ''The sites really run the spectrum from real recruitment and endorsement of
suicide bombings to the desensitization of youth."
There were 11 Canadian sites listed in the CD-ROM's report, but Rabbi Cooper noted that they all
were hosted by U.S. servers. He said many foreign countries like Canada, Spain and Germany used
American URLs to host their sites because of that country's first amendment right to free expression.
"Here in Canada, I think Canadians get the issue -- the fact that there are no Canadian URLs
hosting hate sites is a very positive step," he said. "Canadians have taken existing anti-hate
laws and applied them to Canadian cyberspace. It's a very positive thing, and it allows us
to hold up Canada to other societies as an example of how to do things."
Rabbi Cooper said the centre monitors 25,000 international Web sites every month
and finds it frustrating to be unable to take legal action against the U.S. hate sites.
"We try to be very respectful to the fact democracies have different traditions.
America is pretty typically schizophrenic -- we value our first amendment rights
but I don't believe we should have a carte blanche to publish anything on the Internet ...
it's not true for pedophilia and it should not be true for hate crimes or lies about 9/11."
onelson@nationalpost.com
ARUTZ SHEVA, website, week of 22, May, 2002,
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