#Israel

What can you say about Israel in 140 characters or less?

By SARA MACIAS / ISRAEL CAMPUS BEAT
#Israel 390 (photo credit: Courtesty @Israel)
#Israel 390
(photo credit: Courtesty @Israel)
Israel advocates use social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube to spread their messages, but Twitter often gets overlooked. What can you say about Israel in 140 characters or less?
Apparently, a lot.
Many campus Israel advocacy groups -- including Ohio State’s Buckeyes for Israel, UCLA’s Bruins for Israel and the University of Oklahoma’s Sooners for Israel to name just a few -- have Twitter accounts.
These clubs use Twitter to keep their members informed about current events regarding Israel. Buckeyes for Israel (@buckeyes4Israel), posts information to their members about club meetings and also shares links to articles and news regarding Israel.
Sooners for Israel (@Sooners4Israel), constantly posts articles from major news sites, not just about Israel but also about the Middle East that could impact Israel. Recently, they retweeted Ivo Daalder, the US Permanent Representative on the council of NATO, stating, “NATO warships offer assistance to yet another Iranian vessel.” Tweets like this give Sooners for Israel members a quick way to stay informed of events in the region.
Student activists are using Twitter for more than spreading information. At Arizona State University, two Israel clubs, Sun Devils for Israel (@sundevls4israel) and American Israel Alliance at West Campus (@aia_asuw) recently tweeted a petition. The petition asked students at Arizona State to sign if they support the Israel-United States relationship. A group of individual students joined the two clubs, in tweeting the petition.
Israel advocacy groups such as StandWithUs, AIPAC, the David Project, Israel on Campus Coalition and Hasbara Fellowships all use Twitter. StandWithUs (@StandWithUs), tweets more than 10 times a day, sending links to news articles regarding Israel to their more than 4,000 followers.
Many Israel advocacy groups get information from the Twitter accounts of the Embassy of Israel or Israeli consulates across the United States. Israeli embassies in other countries, including Greece (@IsraelinGreece), Colombia (@IsraelinCol) and the UK (@IsraelinUK), also tweet. In Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office and Benjamin Netanyahu himself have Twitter accounts. Netanyahu (@netanyahu), tweets news and announcements. On October 12, he tweeted, “I am bringing #GiladShalit Home!” Following speculation about the captive Israeli soldier's fate, Shalit became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.
Keep up with the latest campus Israel advocacy news by following Israel Campus Beat on Twitter, @ICB_News.