Blogger's convention
On Sunday I went to the second annual Jewish blogger's convention in Jerusalem. It was entitled "Uniting the Jewish community through social media," and was organized by Nefesh b'nefesh, the organization that has streamlined aliya to Israel from the US, Canada and Britain.
I can't say that I gained much from the meeting, but it was an interesting experience. I was probably the oldest blogger there, and one of the least known. The majority of the around 200 bloggers were young orthodox Jews, who obviously had a lot in common and who seem to be networked in a self-indulgent web.
There were many pro-Israel, pro-settler, right wing blogs represented. There were also quite a few women's blogs, mainly by Jewish women for Jewish women, how to cook, how to bring up baby, how to network. There was also the young woman from Los Angeles whose blog is about dating, but she admitted that it can be a mistake to find out too much about a potential partner on-line before the date. One problem pointed out is that we bloggers tend to preach to the converted or to each other. There were seemingly contradictory aims, first to improve the unity of Jews and also to increase outreach to non-Jews.
On one panel a spokesman for the Government (an aide to a deputy FM) asked that we use our influence to present a unified Israeli approach, such as on Iran. He pointed out that Iran is a threat to Europe as much as Israel, but Israel takes the brunt of Iran's invective and must be prepared to respond. It is not reported in the West that Iran already has long-range missiles capable of reaching Europe and is being supplied both by China and Russia. China is currently building new refineries in Iran and Venezuela has agreed to supply Iran with refined petroleum, that will allow them to circumvent sanctions.
David Horowitz, Editor of the Jerusalem Post spoke. Whether PM Netanyahu's rumored mysterious day-long trip to Moscow was related to the hijacking by Israel of a Russian freighter carrying rockets en route to Iran has not been confirmed, but it was well covered by the blogosphere. A useful quote is "if the printing press made us all readers, and the computer made us all writers, then the blog has made us all journalists." But, we should be careful not to try to reproduce a newspaper in our blog, it can't be done. And there was much talk about social networking. But, I'm glad that I'm an independent blogger who obeys no rules and calls things as I see them.
My blog address - Isblog: www.commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com
I can't say that I gained much from the meeting, but it was an interesting experience. I was probably the oldest blogger there, and one of the least known. The majority of the around 200 bloggers were young orthodox Jews, who obviously had a lot in common and who seem to be networked in a self-indulgent web.
There were many pro-Israel, pro-settler, right wing blogs represented. There were also quite a few women's blogs, mainly by Jewish women for Jewish women, how to cook, how to bring up baby, how to network. There was also the young woman from Los Angeles whose blog is about dating, but she admitted that it can be a mistake to find out too much about a potential partner on-line before the date. One problem pointed out is that we bloggers tend to preach to the converted or to each other. There were seemingly contradictory aims, first to improve the unity of Jews and also to increase outreach to non-Jews.
On one panel a spokesman for the Government (an aide to a deputy FM) asked that we use our influence to present a unified Israeli approach, such as on Iran. He pointed out that Iran is a threat to Europe as much as Israel, but Israel takes the brunt of Iran's invective and must be prepared to respond. It is not reported in the West that Iran already has long-range missiles capable of reaching Europe and is being supplied both by China and Russia. China is currently building new refineries in Iran and Venezuela has agreed to supply Iran with refined petroleum, that will allow them to circumvent sanctions.
David Horowitz, Editor of the Jerusalem Post spoke. Whether PM Netanyahu's rumored mysterious day-long trip to Moscow was related to the hijacking by Israel of a Russian freighter carrying rockets en route to Iran has not been confirmed, but it was well covered by the blogosphere. A useful quote is "if the printing press made us all readers, and the computer made us all writers, then the blog has made us all journalists." But, we should be careful not to try to reproduce a newspaper in our blog, it can't be done. And there was much talk about social networking. But, I'm glad that I'm an independent blogger who obeys no rules and calls things as I see them.
My blog address - Isblog: www.commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:54 PM
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