Facebook Group #1: MK Effi Eitam for Prime Minister of Israel

Posted: July 8th, 2008 | Author: Lindsay | Filed under: fulbright, Uncategorized | Tags: facebook, fulbright, israel, politics | 1 Comment »

Link to Group

I found this group after reading an article which prompted me to research Gilad Shalit, one of 3 abducted Israeli soldiers. In retrospect, it was quite tacky to post a link to this political group on a “Save These Guys”-type of group. But, nonetheless, I’m also interested in the way Facebook can be used for creating dialogue between politicians and their (most likely) younger constituents.

So lets take stats:

Related Groups include:

1. 24.06 my facebook status “is waiting for Gilad Shalit for 2 years!!!”
2. In Memory of those killed in the Attack on the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva
3. Facebook delete the group “Israel is a terrorist country we all hate Israel”
4. It’s not “Palestine” – It’s “Israel”
5. Free Jonathan Pollard

So in these 5 groups we see a contrast between the “poor us” and the “f**k them” type of groups. I’m not trying to say anything one way or the other, just pointing out the difference

The Admin is Jonathan Pacifici; a quick google search leads me to JP & Partners. It looks like he has a really nice background, especially since he spent time in my hometown, Philadelphia. I’m just trying to figure out why he created this group, what’s his incentive? I’m not sure I can draw any conclusions from his bio, except that he also has a really impressive background, so if this fulbright thing doesn’t work out, I might need to get in touch with him : )

The group total has 39 members. Surprisingly, not all of these members are part of the Israel network, some are from France and some are from varying networks in the US.

As I’m exploring I notice that Effi Eitam has a Politician page on Facebook. It lists his personal and government websites, his age, hometown, religious and political views. And, in activities it says “Zionism, Defense of Israel, Expel Arabs from Israeli Land, and Judaism”. I was a little jolted until I read a wall post expelling each of these issues. It seems the write claims that Effi did not create this page himself. So how can you create a politician page?

Back to the group. As I read the rest of the wall posts in the group, I think its important to note one comment:

Effi Eitam was my dad’s division commander in Golani for the first Lebanon War ,of course he has my support

Does the size of Israel allow for these relationships to be made among politicians and their constituents? Is this a common dialogue? And, do social networking applications make it easier for people to make these connections?

* On a side note, I definitely need to pick up my hebrew reading comprehension because I feel I am missing a huge part of these groups since I can only read the english comments.

Related posts:

1. Reading 1: 760 Gilad Shalits: A Double Standard
2. Blog/Article #2 Rima Barakat: Unfit to Serve in our State Government
3. Blog #9 Facebook: Meaningless Policy Against Inflammatory, Hateful, Racially, Ethnically Objectionable Posts

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