Israel is the latest in a slew of countries to join the ranks of social media. However, the rise of the @Israel Twitter account under control of the country has had quite the story behind it.
It seems, according to the New York Times, that @Israel was owned by a gentleman named Israel Meléndez, who owned a pornographic website. Acquiring the account in 2007, Meléndez was unable to use it effectively, as his tweets were answered with a flurry of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.
Meléndez, a resident of Miami Florida, had been contacted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry with the Ministry’s interest in acquiring the account from Meléndez. In a deal that was said to be “not pro bono”, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs now has control of the account.
The account, at present, seems to be used primarily to pass on information about government affairs, including a Rosh Hashanah greeting from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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