Gov’t establishes contact center for Diaspora communities

Thousands of inquiries received at office set up to help deal with anti-Semitism amid flotilla crisis.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
yuli edelstein 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
yuli edelstein 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Yuri Edelstein’s Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry has opened a contact center in Jerusalem that will serve as a clearinghouse for up-to-date information on the continuing diplomatic crisis surrounding the Gaza blockade runners.
“We felt there was a problem,” the ministry’s spokeswoman Anat Weinstein said. “There’s a huge need for materials” among Diaspora organizations and activists, “and these materials can be hard to come by because they are held in many different hands that are not sharing the information.”
The center formally opened on Tuesday, and has already has had “thousands of inquiries,” Weinstein said.
In a statement on Thursday announcing its establishment, the ministry said the center would fill “the need for Jews and Jewish community leaders from around the world to receive real-time information and updates from Israel.
“This need arose in the wake of Diaspora Jews’ concerns over displaysof anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity in their countries followingthe provocative flotilla,” the statement said.
In the past two days, it has operated from 7:30 a.m. until late in the evening Israel time.
In addition to fielding phone calls and e-mails from Diaspora activistsand organizations, it will monitor mainstream and social medianetworks, and has the formal goal of being “in direct and continuouscontact with world Jewish bodies in order to relay material inreal-time.”
It will be staffed by representatives from the IDF Spokesman’s Office, the Jewish Agency and various Jewish organizations.
It can be reached at 972-(0)2-658-7103 or at hadarkesher@gmail.com.