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Last update - 19:26 19/11/2008
Israel launches Arabic YouTube channel to bypass Arab media
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Arabic, Israel News 

The Foreign Ministry has launched a YouTube channel in Arabic which is meant to bypass Arab media and give Israel's version of current events directly to Arab viewers, Haaretz has learned.

The ministry's Arab media department chief Ofir Gendelman told Haaretz on Wednesday that they seek to reduce Israel's dependency on Arab media channels, who tend to give Israeli spokespersons relatively limited airtime.

He also said that the amount of coverage depends on Israel's fluctuating relationship with Arab channels. Thus, for example, Israeli spokespersons have recently shunned Al Jazeera over its allegedly unbalanced coverage of Middle East affairs.



"We have a problem reaching out to the Arab audience, and we need to take additional measures to maximize our exposure," Gendelman said. "The internet scene in Arabic is buzzing, and we wish to establish another communication channel for dialogue. We see it as complementing our current activity in the Arab media."

The first clip was posted on the channel a few months ago, ahead of July's prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah. Tens of thousands of people watched it.

Gendelman says that the channel will update more frequently, and that the Ministry considers adding English subtitles. He also said that in the future they hope to post video reports featuring footages provided by the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit.

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      1.   Arab media on YouTube 23:35  |  joe 19/11/08
      2.   What a garbage tv! 00:08  |  Adnan 20/11/08
      3.   Who are you tryoing to fool 01:24  |  Faris Zaidan 20/11/08
      4.   Oh, looky, propaganda from Israel 02:06  |  POP 20/11/08
      5.   very funny, indeed 03:24  |  ahmad abouali 20/11/08
      6.   Faris....maybe you should leave 03:48  |  Dan 20/11/08
      7.   POP 03:51  |  Dan 20/11/08
      8.   Grammar mistake 04:11  |  Uri 20/11/08
      9.   #1 Faris 06:13  |  judith 20/11/08
      10.   chanel launched months ago 07:21  |  paulo2005 20/11/08
      11.   Arabic U-Tube 23:57  |  Abe 20/11/08
      12.   genious 04:25  |  ali 21/11/08
      13.   Very good idea and IT is working 04:32  |  Abu Yusuf 21/11/08
      14.   good initiative 12:24  |  k. 21/11/08
      15.   Israeli You-Tube Initiative 23:44  |  Frank 22/11/08
      16.   Israel is Great! 18:56  |  Omar 25/11/08
      17.   just to spread lies 21:46  |  M 27/11/08
      18.   Israel 07:52  |  Ibrahim Abukar 03/12/08
      19.   Game Over 17:23  |  Sami Samuel 12/04/09
      20.   no change 11:02  |  k.k 19/06/09
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