By Gregory Levey

The Israeli government is deploying new tactics to deepen ties with American youth and evangelicals.

For the moment at least, the state of Israel has 553 friends. One of them is Leonardo DiCaprio.

The 20-something Israeli official who is showing me Israel's new MySpace page, however, says she isn't sure if the link to the Hollywood heartthrob really leads to him. We're sitting in the offices of the Israeli Consulate in New York, where Israel's official MySpace page was launched in January under the direction of officials from the Foreign Ministry. The 20-something official mentions that the Philippines also now has its own MySpace page, adding excitedly, "They're one of our friends, too. Isn't that nice?"

According to its profile, Israel is a single female, 58 years old, a Taurus, who lives in Jerusalem.

58 years is not a coincidence, that is the age of occupation of Palestine.

(When asked if Israel's close ties with the United States meant that she should perhaps be listed as "in a relationship," the young official demurred.) The MySpace page automatically greets visitors with a sleekly produced hip-hop song called "Peace in the Middle," with lyrics in both English and Hebrew that include "Stop this holy war" and "What are we dying for?" It shows pictures of Israel's beaches, glitzy hotels and the Tel Aviv skyline. In the section labeled "Who I'd Like to Meet," it presents a slideshow of attractive young people who look lifted straight out of a fashion magazine. Israel, it seems, is mostly interested in meeting models.

In other words, SEX. That was and still is the best, easiest and cheapest way to seduce people.

The MySpace page is part of a wider effort, including Internet television and other online initiatives, led by an Israeli diplomat named David Saranga. Under Saranga's direction, Israel hopes to reach out to young Americans by adding some hip and stylish gloss to Israel's image and building a greater sense of connection in the process. Citing research on Israel's image in the United States, Saranga told me recently: "We saw that we had a problem with the age group of 18 to 35, and the reason is that this group doesn't see Israel as relevant. So we have to talk to them in their language, in platforms that they are using, and the new media is one of the ways to do so."

Probably it is time to watch out your kids and what they are exposed to online. Of course that does not apply to 18 to 35 or over, but I don't have to worry about this group age as much as I worry about teenagers and what the Zionist propaganda can do to them.

In addition to the MySpace page, the state of Israel also now has its own blog -- the first country-as-a-whole to have one, according to Saranga. The blog is called "isRealli" so as to incorporate the word "real." It also sports the slightly odd subtitle, "The New Blog of Israel." ("You can tell that the person who named it thinks they speak English better than they actually do," one of the young officials in the consulate commented to me.)

Am I surprised?

Updated several times a day by anonymous government employees, some of the blog's recent posts have been titled "Hummus Up to My Eyeballs," "'Mamma Mia' in Israel," and "Who Says We Can't Dance?" Although these entries valiantly attempt to fit in with the informal and irreverent tone common to the blogosphere, they carry an unmistakable whiff of government talking points. The blog entry used to introduce the state of Israel's MySpace page, for example, began, "We all know that Israel sometimes has a tough time making friends," before urging readers to "join our friends list" and "check out our favorites." A post from Thursday titled "Maximum Israel" notes that the widely read American men's magazine Maxim has a forthcoming spread on the beauty of Israeli women -- a feature the Israeli consulate pushed for as "part of our latest efforts to show a little more of Israel's sexier side." (The post further notes that Maxim's editors were reluctant at first, but after they were sent pictures of 12 Israeli models, "it was smooth sailing from that moment on.")

SEX again. Not literally, but seducing and perception of women figures/shape/sex, etc... is the old game of any and all 'Inelegance' Systems.

Israel is reaching out with other online initiatives. Both its blog and MySpace page link to videos on YouTube -- many of them posted by a mysterious user named "Hollyyyyyyy" -- which aim to make Israel look attractive in the eyes of young Americans and disarm the conflict-centric image so prevalent in the Western media. The videos highlight Israel's achievements in technology, medicine, business and entertainment. They also show a lot of people wearing bikinis. There is nobody wearing a military uniform in the videos, even though military service is compulsory for all Israelis after they turn 18.

Did I hear SEX again? Oh, it's just bikinis, which are a symbol of CIVILIZATION only!

Another video, posted by a user called "Koshergirl2007," is called "Gay Scene in Israel" and shows scenes from Israel's Gay Pride Parades and gay nightclubs. It is meant to demonstrate to America's gay population that Israel is a gay-friendly country. This is also a theme frequently highlighted on the blog. Saranga says that this is just "presenting the reality" in Israel. "When we speak in front of gay audiences" in the United States, he says "sometimes they are amazed at how liberal Israel is."

SEX? AGAIN? Oh well, what better they can do!

Inevitably, though, Israel's new media push could not be free from politics, which arrived in part with Israel's recent blog posting about the big European music competition, Eurovision. For the competition -- which takes place this May and is wildly popular in Europe and all over the Middle East -- each country chooses a representative band and song. Not everyone is happy with Israel's choice. There was talk recently by the event's organizers of banning Israel's entry for politicizing the Eurovision competition, though they have elected not to do so. Teapacks, the band representing Israel, will be singing a song called "Push the Button," an apparent criticism of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. Israel's blog promotes the country's Eurovision entry and links to a YouTube video that shows the band performing the controversial song. The multilingual lyrics include "There are some crazy rulers/ they hide and try to fool us/ with demonic, technological willingness to harm," and the refrain, "They're gonna push the button, push the button, push the button, push the button."

Warmongers! Yeah, thats another master key the Zionist play very well in this world.

In fact, in the near future the Foreign Ministry will launch a second blog, one devoted exclusively to politics. The plan is to have Israeli Foreign Ministry officials post their thoughts on the current political situation in Israel and the Middle East, and allow readers around the world to post responses. Some worry it is an online war waiting to erupt, but Saranga remains optimistic. "The government of Israel will have a direct dialogue with readers everywhere," he explains.

I'm looking forward for that. Lets see how can - if they can - face the truth. It is a great sign that what we are doing is the right thing. I'm not happy that they will have their own blog because that will raise the scale of cyberwar, but it is good to have some official place where activist can express their feelings and uncover the lies of the Zionist regime.

In April, Saranga and his colleagues are also set to launch an Internet television station aimed at American evangelicals and other Christians. According to one of the officials involved in the project, the station will have content that "speaks to Christians of all denominations" and "shows Christian movies and clips." All this, he said, would be accompanied by a "really funky design" that is being coordinated by "Christian experts" hired by the Israeli government. It's not clear whether the site will include a link to the "Gay Scene in Israel" video on YouTube.

I wonder if they will show them the video of Jewish settlers saying: "We killed Jesus and we are proud of it."

Saranga and other Israeli officials are proud of Israel's MySpace page and other nascent efforts to break into new media. They point to some early improvement in relations that have gone beyond American youth. "We were surprised by the kinds of people who wanted to be friends with Israel," one of them told me, mentioning that the blog sometimes receives visitors from Saudi Arabia and Iran. For a while, he said, Israel's bloggers were regularly conversing with someone from the United Arab Emirates, though eventually it became clear that he was only interested in trying to sell them real estate. Still, the official remained enthusiastic about the overall effort to show "the young lady that Israel is and what she's got to offer!"

As of this publication, she now has 937 friends on MySpace, though it is still unclear whether one of them is the real Leonardo DiCaprio. [Source: Spiegel Online]

I'm sure Israel can make a lot more REAL friends in real life if and only if the chose to live in Peace with themselves and Palestinian!!!

Web-savvy criminals have turned Israel into the world's highest ranking source of malicious Internet activity per user, security experts have told The Jerusalem Post.

From July through December 2006, 9 percent of all such activity could be traced back to Israel. Taiwan came next with 8%, while Poland and the US tied at 6%, according to a report issued in March by security software giant Symantec, based in Cupertino, California...

The sophistication of Israel's Internet users and its developed hi-tech sector have contributed to the high level of malicious Web activity, said Arie Danon, Symantec manager for the Mediterranean region...

Reznik chalked the high amount of criminal Internet activity here up to the fact that Israel, according to a study his company performed in February, is a large exporters of spam, accounting for approximately 2% of world junk mail in 2006...

"The figures clearly show that spammers are operating intensively in Israel on an international level" said Yaniv Barzilai, TrekIT deputy managing director of sales, referring to the TrekIT report. Although spam is not itself considered malicious by the researchers and is not necessarily illegal, the Symantec report found that it is increasingly intertwined with malicious criminal activities. [Source: The Jerusalem Post]

I feel sick to my stomach when I see a multi-billion giant like Microsoft using “children refugees” as a cover up to market their latest web 2.0 businesses called live.com!

While doing my search for my previous story, I came across a press release by UNHCR which said: “Microsoft launches “Click for Cause” initiative to support UNHCR web campaign“.

UN Refugee Agency led campaign to raise awareness and funds for education and sport programs for refugee youth. The campaign website can be found at Ninemillion.org.

The merciful Micro$oft decided to support the campaign under one condition; you have to use their new web 2.0 search engine/start page enable that they generate few more billions to give some peanut to UN refugee campaign.

Under the initiative, every Internet search performed at http://click4thecause.live.com using Microsoft’s Live Search facility will result in a financial donation to ninemillion.org. The donation programme will be coupled with a broad online awareness campaign for ninemillion.org to include advertising and editorial space on Microsoft online properties, such as MSN and microsoft.com, in 26 markets around the world.

Microsoft has agreed to host the search site until the end of March and to promote it by creating a downloadable “gadget,” developing online advertising to appear on the MSN portal websites in certain countries and purchase advertising inventory from the MSN/Live network.

The company will guarantee a minimum donation of US$100,000 to UNHCR based on the number of queries that are generated from the search site. The rate for each query will be US$0.01. The maximum donation payable by Microsoft will be US$250,000, which would be equivalent to 25 million search queries.

Cheap, very cheap!!

Although I don’t personally recommend live.com as a search engine, however, I’ll use it for a while for the sake of supporting the refugee youth around the world.

This article is in response to the question posted by a new site just launched today - Love to Lead - where:

Each week for the next 16 weeks L2L will pose a question designed to stimulate debate between bloggers. Visitors will be able to vote for their favourite article and the blogger whose post receives the greatest number of votes each week will win a Toshiba Portégé R400 laptop.

Brilliant Idea, and I want a new laptop :-)

So: "Will the human race ever populate another planet?"

Here is what I have to say (after you read, head over there and plz vote for me ;-) or write your own piece):

Will we live for that?

With all what is going around us like wars, pollution, global warning, mysterious diseases, etc... Unfortunately, I don't think the world will make it to that day.

It is true that mankind is growing fast, so is technology and since is developing in light speed, however, with all this development comes the greedy of mankind. Greed for power and money. With all the technology we have now, mankind uses it more and more to destroy his kind rapidly and immense numbers.

I'm not a historian, but I can claim that people killed by wars, diseases and man-caused disasters (including many so called "natural") in the last few centuries is x-multiple of times the number of men killed throughout the history in the previous period.

On the other hand, there was an exponential growth of human population in 1987 where that year 87.01 million more people were added to the Earth. Since then, the population has declined on average by 3 million less people added per year. This means that we will peak in population reaching zero population growth in 2020 with 6.64 billion people.

The United Nation demographers did their report update of world population numbers and projected average population which reached zero population growth in 2038 @ 7.47 billion. This means that by then the growth will be equal to the decline, which in other words means mankind population is going down faster and faster each year.

As a result of all this, lets think of sustainability of soil energy, sustainability of fisheries energy, fresh water limits, literacy rates, starvation and its related diseases, HIV infection rates and similar new diseases, etc... Now, if we consider "Energy and Water" only, aren't these major reasons of wars in present times? Think how it will be more devastating in the few coming decades only. Immeasurable, I think. So, "will mankind live to see new sun from other planet (or even our sun)?" I don't think so!

Anyway, I hope I'm wrong. But from what we live through day by day, such dreams makes one feel that it will remain dreams.

Now, I want the laptop:

It was July 2005 when first published some information about the deployment of a new weapon in Iraq called "Active Denial System weapon." The weapon was deployed in Iraq for testing free-fresh-flesh-samples (to make "Fried Chicken"). This weapon fires a 95GHz microwave beam at "rioters" to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds.

Yesterday, Project Censored Releases a New study on the History of US Intelligence Community Human Rights Violations and Continuing Research in Electromagnetic Weapons:

US Electromagnetic Weapons and Human Rights
By Peter Phillips, Lew Brown and Bridget Thornton

This research explores the current capabilities of the US military to use electromagnetic (EMF) devices to harass, intimidate, and kill individuals and the continuing possibilities of violations of human rights by the testing and deployment of these weapons. To establish historical precedent in the US for such acts, we document long-term human rights and freedom of thought violations by US military/intelligence organizations. Additionally, we explore contemporary evidence of on-going government research in EMF weapons technologies and examine the potentialities of continuing human rights abuses.

In the 1950s and 60s the CIA began work to find means for influencing human cognition, emotion and behavior. Through the use of the psychological understanding of the human being as a social animal and the ability to manipulate a subject's environment through isolation, drugs and hypnosis, US funded scientists have long searched for better means of controlling human behavior. This research has included the use of wireless directed electromagnetic energy under the heading of "Information Warfare" and "Non Lethal Weapons." New technological capabilities have been developed in black budget projects[1] over the last few decades' including the ability to influence human emotion, disrupt thought, and present excruciating pain through the manipulation of magnetic fields. The US military and intelligence agencies have at their disposal frightful new weapons, weapons that have likely already been covertly used and/or tested on humans, both here and abroad, and which could be directed against the public in the event of mass protests or civil disturbance.

Human Rights belong to people collectively. To believe in rights for some and not others is a denial of the humanness of people worldwide. Yet, denial is exactly what Congress and George W. Bush did with the signing of the Military Commission Act of 2006. The new official US policy is that torture and suspension of due process are acceptable for anyone the president deems to be a terrorist or supporter. This act is the overt denial of the inalienable rights of human beings propagated in our Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. More so, US actions declared to the world that the US suspends human rights for those it believes are evil.

The precious words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," did not declare that only some men (and women) possess unalienable rights. Our independence was founded on the understanding that all men and women are recognized by this nation as having innate rights derived by their humanity.

Likewise, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by the United Nations in 1948, signed and ratified by the US Congress, specifies in its preamble that "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been a guide for international law for most of six decades, and as such binds the United States to its general principles. Article 10 states that "everyone is entitled to full equality, to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him," and Article 5 specifically prohibits torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Both of these basic human rights have been superceded by the passage the of Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Additionally, the Universal Declaration of Human rights declares that everyone has the right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression and opinion. This means that humans have the inalienable right to be able to freely think their own thoughts and discover their own truths. This paper addresses this most fundamental human right and explores the pending threats to individual freedom of thought posed by new EMF weapons technologies.

Freedom of thought or cognitive liberty is the natural human right of each person to be secure in their ability to perceive the world to the best of their ability. To have true cognitive liberty in a world as complex as ours would mean that first we must have access to truthful and unbiased information about the actions of others and the general state of the world. The Center for Cognitive Liberties defines this as "the right of each individual to think independently and autonomously, to use the full spectrum of his or her mind, and to engage in multiple modes of thought."[2] Without accurate representations we cannot make independently informed choices. It is imperative that the human body and mind be considered sacrosanct. To invade a person's body without their consent is an egregious human rights crime.

The circumstance may soon arrive in which anti-war or human rights protesters suddenly feel a burning sensation akin to touching a hot skillet over their entire body. Simultaneously they may hear terrifying nauseating screaming, which while not produced externally, fills their brains with overwhelming disruption. Not only are both phenomena currently possible, but designs for more powerful EMF technologies receive continuous funding from the US Government.

For the US Government to unilaterally declare that our country will not comply with international human rights laws, nor uphold the core values of our nation's foundation is an indication of extremism that supersedes the values and beliefs of the American people. When such extremism exists we need to take seriously the founders' declaration that, " to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, " That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." (Declaration of Independence 1776)

[1] Black budgets are government funded projects that are classified/secret to Congress and the American people. For an in-depth analysis on the topic, see Weiner, Tim , Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget, Warner: 1990.

[2] See the Center for Cognitive Liberty at http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/

Full Study at:
http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/ElectromegnaticWeapons.pdf

There you go. Next time you go out in riots and come back with unknown burns (if you make it with getting fried), you know it is made in U.S.A.

I just ran by Quantcast, which is still on beta but providing some interesting stats that some bloggers might like to check.

If your blog is lucky to be profiled, you can see some fine statistical analysis that estimates some figures about your visitors, like, their age, gender, ethnicity, even education and income.

The statistics also estimate your US unique visitors a month, as well returning visitors (loyal visitors). In fact, I guess that all the statistics are based on US visitors only.

One of the interesting results I found about my blog (sabbah.biz) is that 80 percent of the visitors are females.
Sounds I'm sexy :)
Not really. (Click thumbnail to see results)

Looking closer, I found that 85 percent of them have children ages 6-17, which means that US housewives like my blog ;)

So, if your blog is targeted at one of the above indexes give it a try (and pray that your female visitors are unmarried :))

Netscape, the brand that kick-started the dot-com boom only to lose the browser war to Microsoft, launched its latest reincarnation today with a portal focused on community-driven news. It�s not exactly a Digg clone. Submitted stories are voted on in much the same way, and the more votes a story gets the higher it appears in a category home page or on Netscape.com itself. However, the top few spots in each category and on the home page are determined by an �anchor� - essentially an editor choosing from stories moving up the ranks.

Flickr is blocked again in UAE? I just heard that from SC. This is also confirmed here and here.

What the heck is all this about? Since I lived in UAE for few years, I know that Etisalat have this sort of stupid unexplained actions.

But anyway, may this slow down the UAE spam on Flickr ?

Honestly, if something annoys me on Flickr, it is two things:

1. The unsolicited invitations I get daily from a ‘new’ group. And 99% of these new groups are coming from UAE. Yes, the guys are very active. I believe they hold the biggest community in terms of number of members and maybe photos sources, I admire that. But that is not a justification for the spam.
2. The second most annoying thing is the meaningless addition of photos to groups that has nothing to do with the photo added. For example, I very often find some photos of “see my new car” thing added to say “Palestine Pool”, or “No To Terrorism Pool”. And again, 99% of the time, they are coming from UAE. What the hell has your '#$%?~' to do with these pools? It is so unprofessional and childish way of adding photos out of theme to a specialized photo pool.

Anyway, I hope they get the censorship lifted. And until then, here is a tip to break through (any) censorship (anywhere). Go and get used to use JAP or Privoxy and TOR.

I really wonder, how can the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seeks to establish itself as an economic and technological leader in the Middle East, encourages Internet use for this reason, and yet blocks its citizens from accessing a substantial number of Web sites?! (Read more from OpenNet Initiative Study)

Just got this from official Google blog; they announced Google Base. They say it is an extension of their existing content collection efforts like web crawl, Google Sitemaps, Google Print and Google Video. On the other hand, I also came across Google Analytics, which actually monitors your site visitors and promises you to watch how they interact with your site.

I don't know if it's only me. But day by day I try to avoid using Google. I have a feeling that they are growing bigger than any existing Intelligence network, eben dangerous. Think of it, they know everything about you. With all these tools that you use, voluntary, you are actually telling them all what any intelligence service would wish to know about any one. I think I should boycott Google.

Man gets his Google search history submitted as evidence in murder trial.

For the woman who wants to stay both warm and environmentally conscious this winter � and isn't bothered by extra bulk under her shirt � a lingerie maker unveiled a thick bra that can be heated in a microwave.

Transparent Aluminum was once a matter of science fiction. The US Air Force has actually developed transparent aluminum and are testing it now. The new kind of transparent armor -- stronger and lighter than traditional materials -- that could stop armor-piercing weapons from penetrating vehicle windows.

Stevens, is among several people to offer alternative and generally discounted theories for the storm that flooded New Orleans. He says that a little-known oversight in physical laws makes it possible to create and control storms � especially if you're armed with the Cold War-era weapon said to have been made by the Russians in 1976. Stevens became convinced of the existence of the Russian device when he observed an unusual Montana cold front in 2004. Find some pieces of the puzzle.

Ever noticed the US government practice of Neo-Racism? Instead of saying all people from the Middle-East should be treated differently, the US government says people from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen ONLY should be treated differently.

A super flu could kill up to 1.9 million Americans. In a best-case scenario, about 200,000 people might die. I was wondering. Did anyone hear of any Mideast country taking precautions, or we are super heroes?
Update1: Bahrain is stockpiling four million shots of medication to protect the nation against bird flu.

Update2: The United Arab Emirates decided to ban the import of aquatic birds from Asia as part of measures to prevent a possible outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus. At the same time, up to five million chickens are being inspected by the environment agency for bird flu.

Update 3: Egypt bans poultry imports, cancels hunting season.

Update 4: Jordan bans imports of poultry from Turkey.