Israel forms 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Websites

[IndianaGreen]

We already know! :puke:

Last update - 05:46 19/01/2009

Israel forms 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Websites

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced on Sunday it was setting up an "army of bloggers," to be made up of Israelis who speak a second language, to represent Israel in "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German.

The program's first volunteer was Sandrine Pitousi, 31, from Kfar Maimon, situated five kilometers from Gaza. "I heard about the project over the radio and decided to join because I'm living in the middle of the conflict," she said.

Before hanging up the phone prematurely following a Color Red rocket alert, Pitousi, who immigrated to Israel from France in 1993, said she had some experience with public relations from managing a production company. "During the war, we looked for a way to contribute to the effort," the ministry's director general, Erez Halfon, told Haaretz. "We turned to this enormous reservoir of more than a million people with a second mother tongue." Other languages in which bloggers are sought include Russian and Portuguese.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056648.html

[Idealism]

1. Captain Obvious to the rescue!

[greyl]

2. I don't think a pro-Zionist poster will last too long at an anti-Zionist blog.

If there isn't more to this story, it's pretty worthless idea.

[IndianaGreen]

4. An "anti-Zionist" is anyone that does not support Israel 100-percent

so that makes even the most muted criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza an anti-Zionist, or anti-Semitic, criticism.

[greyl]

9. No, I don't think you have that right. nt

[Madam Mossfern]

7. I don't consider myself a Zionist but

I do post on anti-Zionist boards and I am considered a Zionist on them because I'm Jewish. Yes, I have lasted on some for more than seven years. Do I get attacked? You betcha! I have to admit I've never ventured onto Stormfront, that will be a challenge. There are proclaimed Zionists who post on these forums and they've been there quite a while as well.

I'm considered a Zionist because I don't think that Israel should be dismantled and has a right to exist.

[bemildred]

8. DU is an "anti-zionist" blog. Seriously.

I've been called a pro-Israel apologist here, even though anybody who pays attention knows my sympathies lie the other way. Trying to be reasonable and dispassionate can get you in big trouble.

But you are right, the internet has a very high noise ratio as it is, the internet is a gift to astroturfers, these guys won't make a dent.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. They assume any criticism of Israel to be "anti-Zionist"

and probably any blog that tolerates any such criticism to be "anti-Zionist" as well. That would put DU in that category. I would guess that there is plenty of such astroturf posting here.

[greyl]

12. If that's the case, then they would be targeting the entire internet.

According the OP, they are specifically targeting anti-Zionist blogs. I think the definition of that is much more fine-tuned than the one you're using.

[TahitiNut]

3. So, where's the list of "anti-Zionist blogs"??

:eyes:

Or would the (alleged) exceptions be a shorter list?

[Robbien]

5. Just about every site on the internets

which doesn't have Friend of Israel in the header.

Imaginary enemies around every corner is their SOP.

[Idealism]

6. Here is a short list leaked from an anonymous source

Democratic Underground
FireDogLake
Huffington Post
CNN Forums
MSNBC Forums
FOX Forums (weird, right?)
Every internet chat room known to man
Any and all websites starting with "http://"

[azurnoir]

13. Oh but you forgot the most eeeeeevil of them all

Tikun Olam which is run by Richard Silverstein

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[azurnoir]

15. Ok but Richard is on the list

especially hated

[Idealism]

21. I would go check him out

but I'd be afraid of alarms going off inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[azurnoir]

25. LOL

alarms indeed he posts here too sometimes not very often though

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TahitiNut]

16. Aw, shucks! I missed another pearl of wisdom and maturity from "Name removed."

Drat. :rofl:

[Alamuti Lotus]

17. it was referencing another website

populated by certain current and apparently former members of this and other web communities, a seriously fanatic haunt for them to rant and whine about things they're not able to deal with directly on other sites (this included). I was alerted to this place very shortly after joining here, though I am disappointed to learn that I only appear once in their crazy rants. Many other posters here are much more 'popular' with the place (the original poster of this thread is almost a 24/7 obession for them), and DU is certainly on their shitlist.

[azurnoir]

19. You haven't been here long enough

but just wait soon enough you'll have your very own nick name and everything

[wellst0nev0ter]

23. I Only Got Mentioned Once

Obviously I'm not working hard enough :rofl:

[azurnoir]

20. AS al said its the site which dare speak its address here or at

least be can not be linked to, but it can be named ProSemiteUnderCover I think I have that right

Hmmm prosemites say it fast and it sounds like some scifi creatures or something

[TahitiNut]

22. Ahhh....

... well, that's mostly a collection of zealots and vigilantes chasing mostly imaginary "evildoers" on sites with which they seem obsessed. Self-righteousness seems to have no sectarian boundaries. Keyboard warriors can wear yarmulkes, too.
:shrug:

[azurnoir]

24. Maybe in some ways its good they have a place to vent n/t

[PerfectSage]

18. Operation "Cast BS"

[subsuelo]

26. Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced on Sunday it was setting up an "army of bloggers," to be made up of Israelis who speak a second language, to represent Israel in "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German.

The program's first volunteer was Sandrine Pitousi, 31, from Kfar Maimon, situated five kilometers from Gaza. "I heard about the project over the radio and decided to join because I'm living in the middle of the conflict," she said.

Halfon said volunteers who send the Absorption Ministry their contact details by e-mail, at [e-mail], will be registered according to language, and then passed on to the Foreign Ministry's media department, whose personnel will direct the volunteers to Web sites deemed "problematic."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056648.html">Haaretz - read more

[Joanne98]

27. They're already doing it!

A group of Israeli students and would-be cyberwarriors have developed a program that makes it easy for just about anyone to start pounding on pro-Hamas websites. But using this "Patriot" software, to join in the online fight, means handing over control of your computer to the Israeli hacker group.

"While you're running their program, they can do whatever they want with your computer," Mike La Pilla, manager of malicious code operations at Verisign iDefense, the electronic security firm.

The online collective "Help Israel Win" formed in late December, as the current conflict in Gaza erupted. "We couldn't join the real combat, so we decided to fight Hamas in the cyber arena," "Liri," one the group's organizers, told Danger Room.

So they created a simple program, supposedly designed to overload Hamas-friendly sites like qudsnews.net and palestine-info.info. In recent years, such online struggles have become key components in the information warfare that accompanies traditional bomb-and-bullets conflicts. Each side tries to recruit more and more people -- and more and more computers -- to help in the network assaults. Help Israel Win says that more than 8,000 people have already downloaded and installed its Patriot software. It's a small part of a larger, increasingly sophisticated propaganda fight between supporters of Israel and Hamas that's being waged over the airwaves and online.

Help Israel Win, which has websites in Hebrew, English, Spanish, French, Russian and Portugese, doesn't say much about how the program functions -- only that it "unites the computer capabilities of many people around the world. Our goal is to use this power in order to disrupt our enemy's efforts to destroy the state of Israel. The more support we get, the more efficient we are."

Analysis from iDefense and the SANS Institute, however, reveals that computer users put their PCs at risk when they run the Patriot software. The program connects a computer to one of a number of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) servers. Once the machine is linked up, Help Israel Win can order it to do just about anything.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/israel-dns-hack.html

[Bolo Boffin]

29. What you are reporting is not an action of the Israeli government. n/t

[Howardx]

32. yeah right

:sarcasm:

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

30. I remember their predecessors appearance....

here during Lebanon -- incredibly obvious, they were. :eyes:

[Arrowhead2k1]

31. These people give me the creeps. Manipulative basterds.

[LeftishBrit]

33. If only Wars of Blogs would replace other sorts of wars!

If countries drafted people to go on the internet and swear at the bloggers who support their rivals, instead of going out with weapons - just think of all the lives that could be saved!

I'm not quite serious - but wish I was...