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Israel's Internet Fighting Team

15-07-2009 06:52

After they became an inseparable part of the service provided by public-relations companies and advertising agencies, paid Internet talkbackers are being mobilized in the service in the service of the State. The Foreign Ministry is in the process of setting up a team of students and demobilized soldiers who will work around the clock writing pro-Israeli responses on Internet websites all over the world, and on services like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The Foreign Ministry’s department for the explanation of Israeli policy* is running the project, and it will be an integral part of it. The project is described in the government budget for 2009 as the “Internet fighting team” – a name that was given to it in order to distinguish it from the existing policy-explanation team, among other reasons, so that it can receive a separate budget. Even though the budget’s size has not yet been disclosed to the public, sources in the Foreign Ministry have told Calcalist that in will be about NIS 600 thousand in its first year, and it will be increased in the future. From the primary budget, about NIS 200 thousand will be invested in round-the-clock activity at the micro-blogging website Twitter, which was recently featured in the headlines for the services it provided to demonstrators during the recent disturbances in Iran.
“To all intents and purposes the Internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose,” Elan Shturman, deputy director of the policy-explanation department in the Foreign Ministry, and who is directly responsible for setting up the project, says in an interview with Calcalist. “Our policy-explanation achievements on the Internet today are impressive in comparison to the resources that have been invested so far, but the other side is also investing resources on the Internet. There is an endless array of pro-Palestinian websites, with huge budgets, rich with information and video clips that everyone can download and post on their websites. They are flooding the Internet with content from the Hamas news agency. It is a well-oiled machine. Our objective is to penetrate into the world in which these discussions are taking place, where reports and videos are published – the blogs, the social networks, the news websites of all sizes. We will introduce a pro-Israeli voice into those places. What is now going on in Iran is the proof of the need for such an operational branch,” adds Shturman. “It’s not like a group of friends is going to bring down the government with Twitter messages, but it does help to expand the struggle to vast dimensions.”

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camp climate wales August

15-07-2009 03:25

A sure vote winner

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Bottom-up rights and ethical globalization

15-07-2009 03:21

The UN human rights instruments have left out a number of rights which particularly affect the independent peoples (e.g. small business) and the most disadvantaged. It is apparent that these excluded rights were considered incompatible with neo liberalism and globalization. They are 'bottom-up' rights and entail an ethical globalization. These rights need to be struggled for to be included in domestic and international human rights law.

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Elementary Dr. Watson, Elementary...

15-07-2009 03:18

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

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London protests against house demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem

15-07-2009 00:49

Protest tents errected in London against house demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem.

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destruction of calais migrant camps planned for next week

14-07-2009 22:57

rumours of destruction of 'the jungle', migrant's camps in calais are looking likely for early next week

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Blockade of the closed detention centre of Lesquin, 24-06-2009

14-07-2009 21:33

Activists from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Greece blocked the gate of the closed detention centre in Lesquin (Lille, France). This action took place during the start of the No Border Camp in Calais, the 24th of June 2009, where an exagerated police force was summoned to avoid direct actions...

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Children's Revolution Will Attempt to Close Down British Political System

14-07-2009 21:33

The Children of the Eco-Warriors of the 1990s road protests intend to march to the House of Commons in London in an attempt to serve arrest warrants on all the politicians who are being accused of corruption, fraud, theft, embezzlement, war crimes, climate crimes, illegal censorship and various other crimes against humanity.
Every British politician who has supported the oil companies and the coal and gas industries and all the rest of the transnational corporations and the banks that are responsible for causing global warming will be the defendants in civil and criminal cases holding them all legally accountable for their crimes against the environment and against the people of the world.

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Eco Has Landed?: Kew Ecovillage report

14-07-2009 20:29

England is hit by a heat wave and we are all out enjoying the sun. What a great time to arrange a trip to visit the Kew Ecovillage in west London. I make the journey to London and stay with friends. The morning after, I wake to find that the heat wave has officially ended and London has once again returned to a palette containing many shades of grey. Drizzle trickles down the train window as I make my way to Kew Bridge Station where I am intending to explore. I’m here to discover more about what a group of individuals have been doing since they reclaimed some disused land a month earlier. Land now being used in an attempt to exhibit a more sustainable form of living.

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the mets unlawful & misleading new photo-laws

14-07-2009 19:54

They're threatening to steal SD cards

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Climate Camp Cymru 13 - 16 August

14-07-2009 19:34

- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -

Climate activists plan Wales’ first Climate Camp

Direct action camp to open near Merthyr, 13-16th August

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SMASH EDO: Smashing stuff coming up

14-07-2009 19:31

Here is your sporadic Smash EDO update, with information about special noise demos and other goings on...

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Vegan Prisoner Support Group Benefit Fri 17 July in Brum

14-07-2009 19:31

The VPSG provides help, support, and information for vegans detained either in police custody or within the prison system. VPSG also try to ensure that the prison vegan diets are nutritionally sound and that vegan clothing, hygiene and bodycare products are made available or can be ordered or sent in to vegan prisoners.

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Language Discrimination in Slovakia

14-07-2009 18:29

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The Slovak Language Law is one of the most extraordinary pieces of legislation imaginable in a democratic country. Even the briefest of glances will show how restrictive it is and what kind of discrimination it introduces - reintroduces - into Europe

In brief, around ten percent of the population of Slovakia is Hungarian-speaking, beyond which there are Ukrainian, Roma and other minorities. For all practical purposes, the new law eliminates all the minority languages from the public sphere. Yet even here there is a further discrimination - the small Czech minority is exempt from its restrictions.

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Nothings going to happen: a report from the G8

14-07-2009 16:39

A report and analysis on the g8 in L'aquila and rome, looking at the actions that happened, the protests and trying to understand what went wrong.

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Beyond Borders weekend

14-07-2009 16:12

Beyond Borders is a weekend of skillsharing and discussion about fighting border controls and showing solidarity with migrants that will take place in Nottingham in August.

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CIA's TOP-TERRORIST Dick Cheney

14-07-2009 15:14

CIA's secret program: Paramilitary teams targeting Al Qaeda .... The agency had a plan after Sept. 11 for paramilitary forces to take out Al Qaeda figures overseas. Congress was never told. Reporting from Washington -- The secret CIA program halted last month by Director Leon E. Panetta involved establishing elite paramilitary teams that could be inserted into Pakistan or other locations to capture or kill top leaders of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, according to former U.S. intelligence officials. The program -- launched in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- was never operational. But officials said that as recently as a year ago CIA executives discussed plans to deploy teams to test basic capabilities, including whether they could enter hostile territory and maneuver undetected, as well as gather intelligence and track high-value targets.

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Palestine Today 071409

14-07-2009 15:02

Audio

Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org for Tuesday July 14th 2009.

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New Cambridge Social Centre Opened

14-07-2009 14:35

Occupy Cambridge is proud to announce the opening of the new cambridge social centre.