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Israel to set up Internet portal for world Jewry By Anshel Pfeffer With the large number of Internet sites dealing with Judaism and Israel and the number of hits on Web sites in Hebrew, business people, communications experts and eductors have already asked the question: Why is there no central Internet-based portal for Jews and Judaism? A number of past attempts have failed. Apparently the vast amount of material and approaches do not lend themselves to one site and funding would be prohibitive for a site that might not be profitable. Advertisement Still, last week, cabinet secretary Oved Yehezkel called a meeting in the Prime Minister's Office of representatives of world Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Agency, the World Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish People Planning and Policy Institute and Hillel. On the agenda: how to create a platform to serve the entire Jewish people on-line and be a bridge between Israel and the Diaspora. Diaspora ties The initiative is part of a comprehensive program that Yehezkel is preparing for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to redefine the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. The site is planned to be in English and Hebrew, but its appearence, content and who will maintain it are still unknown. Even so, at least some of the meeting's participants were enthusiastic. "All the Jews in the world can connect to it," Yehezkel says. "They'll get Jewish history, education, heritage and government PR, too." "People can look for relatives and use all the tools the Internet provides," he adds. Getting the message across The government clearly sees the proposed site as a way of getting its message across through the back door. A new public-relations committee in the PMO, headed by former Jewish Agency spokesman Yarden Vatikai, is also involved. "It will never happen," declares one participant in the meeting, who asked not to be identified. "If it's a government site, it will be treated like one and will not be popular. If people can freely state their opinions and advertise, there will be lots of things the government and Jewish organizations will not be able to live with, and they'll have to censor." Meeting participant Moti Friedman, the director of Jerusalem's Herzl Museum who has developed Internet sites for the Jewish Agency says, "It answers a need. People want a place on the Internet where there will be interaction among Jews from different places and where things like works by Jews can be found. A place where you can read articles by A.B.Yehoshua, Elie Weisel and Bernard-Henri Levy." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Nothing to fear Nasrallah says power of IDF exaggerated, Zionist entity can be wiped out. Sharing the blame Al-Qaida deputy chief calls on Muslims to strike Jews 'everywhere' over Gaza raids.

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