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MKs Usage of Personal Internet Tools, 2009: On the verge of a New Decade

  • Sharon Haleva-Amir EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 23, 2013
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World Political Science
From the journal World Political Science Volume 9 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper examines internet use as a personal political device among Members of the Knesset (hereafter: MKs). We will first describe the social and political trends which promote Israeli and worldwide parliamentarians’ use of personal internet platforms as a communication medium. Description of these trends will be accompanied by examples from 17th-Knesset MKs’ websites. We will also review the changes which took place in MKs’ use of personal internet tools, in accordance with the identified developmental phases. Finally, we will discuss the distinction between Internet use as a means of political communication during campaigns and Internet use as a platform for interaction with the public while in office.

Keywords: e-Politics; Israel; online political activity; MKs; personal websites
Corresponding author: Sharon Haleva-Amir, School of Governance and Social Policy, Beit Berl Academic College, HCLT Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa, Israel, e-mail:

Author information

Sharon Haleva-Amir is a lecturer at the School of Governance and Social Policy, Beit Berl Academic College; a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa and a research fellow at Haifa Center of Law & Technology (HCLT).

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Beit Berl College for their generous grant; Niva Elkin-Koren, Sam Lehman-Wilzig and Azi Lev-On for their thoughts and insights; Althea Katz for her editing assistance and Rotem Alter for her translation.

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    Society’s Future in a World of Open Information: Internet and Different Politics (Sapir College: 19 May 2005), http://w3.sapir.ac.il/gap/; transcript, 131–132 http://w3.sapir.ac.il/gap/minutes.pdf.

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    http://www.yallakadima.co.il/candidates.asp. No longer available online.

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    http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/. No longer available online

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    I will elaborate on the distinction between electoral web campaigns and web use by incumbents below.

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    In February 2008 a survey, concerning the perceived prestige of public institutions and public office functionaries in Israel, was conducted by The Citizens’ Empowerment Center in Israel (CECI). According to the survey, serving in the Knesset is being perceived as the least prestigious profession (average prestige rank 2.87 out of 5) compared to the other five professions in the survey (High Court judge, university professor, high ranking military officer, high ranking police officer and senior journalist). The Knesset itself, as an institution, did not receive a high prestige rank either. It is positioned one place from the bottom (average prestige rank 2.90 out of 5) amongst the other public institutions in the survey. Preceding the Knesset are the High Court of Justice, IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), State Comptroller, Israeli government and Israeli Police. http://www.ceci.org.il/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/3book.pdf.

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    http://www.eitam.org.il/. The domain has since changed hands; it is no longer owned by Effie Eitam but rather by an accounting firm.

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    It should be mentioned that these advantages are not absolute. Each advantage can be countered. Nevertheless – as this is not the place to develop a discussion on this issue – we should at least refer to these advantages with reservation.

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    These advantages focus on incumbents’ use of the web for political ends, whereas the advantages of web use for electoral campaigning are not necessarily identical. The main benefit of electoral web campaigns, not mentioned in the list above, is online fundraising. This feature contributed greatly to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 as it allowed him to fund his electoral campaign through micropayments from a numerous private citizens. Furthermore, it is important to distinguish between the advantages of political web usage for elected representatives and for the public.

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    As stated above, it does not refer to political marketing during an electoral campaign which is financially demanding, but rather to continuous web usage during incumbency. The use of the web by incumbents offers a bidirectional channel for communication while allowing selective and positive exposure for a relatively low operational cost.

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    CRM – Constituent Relationship Management: equivalent to the business management term Customer Relationship Management.

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    For further discussion of political journalists’ working habits in the Internet era, which include constant tracking of politicians’ websites, see The Virtual Trail: Political Journalism on the Internet (2002), http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/The_practice_of_journalism/pp_online_journalist.pdf.

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    Former MK Eli Aflalo’s Home Page – http://www.yallakadima.co.il/candidate/main.asp?cand_id=9; No longer available on the web.

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    MK Uri Ariel’s former website (via Web Archive – 11 January 2007), http://web.archive.org/web/20070111094547/http://www.leumi.org.il/ariel.

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    Former MK Estherina Tartman’s informal (as she herself names it) website (presented in the format of a blog), http://estherina-tartman.blogspot.co.il/.

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    This does not necessarily mean that, in practice, the websites enable it.

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    Former MK Eli Aflalo’s Home Page – http://www.yallakadima.co.il/candidate/main.asp?cand_id=9; No longer available online.

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    MK Israel Hason’s website – http://www.israel-hason.com/.

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    Former MK Alex Miller’s website – http://www.alexmiller.info; No longer available online.

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    MK Dov Khenin’s website, “I believe” page http://www.dovblog.org/manifesto.

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    Former MK David Tal website http://www.davidtal.co.il; No longer available online.

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    This page was taken off the web in January 2009. During the transition from George Bush’s presidential administration to Barack Obama’s, an official (http://change.gov/) website was launched, in which US citizens could come up with legislative initiatives. Still, one should bear in mind that the American government is the executive branch while MKs are part of the legislative branch, comparable to USA Congress.

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    During the transition from George Bush’s presidential administration to Barack Obama’s, an official (http://change.gov/) website was launched, in which US citizens could come up with legislative initiatives. Still, one should bear in mind that the American government is the executive branch while MKs are part of the legislative branch, comparable to USA Congress.

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    This page was taken off the web in January 2009.

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    MK Nissan Slomianski’s former website, http://www.nissan.org.il/. The domain is under new ownership and currently hosts a commercial blog.

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    MK Nissan Slomianski former website http://www.nissan.org.il/. The domain is under new ownership and currently hosts a commercial blog.

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    I would like to thank Dr. Mike Dahan, who brought this information to my attention.

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    Video conference with Professor Stephen Coleman, Leeds University, OII-Oxford Internet Institute (22 March 2006).

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    This phase will be dealt in the last section of the article.

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    Re: MKs web usage; an email from former MK Michael Eitan’s parliamentary assistant (21 January 2009).

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    As this issue has never been examined before, there is no documentation of all the MKs who have ever operated a website. Data collection was done through traditional and digital media references to MKs websites as well as through The Web Archive – http://archive.org/index.php.

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    Between the years 2002 and 2005 former MK Shaul Yahalom operated a well-maintained and updated website. He also wrote a personal blog named “Yahalom on a Public Mission” on the Kipa (yarmulke) website during the 17th Knesset electoral campaign (2006).

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    Arieh Eldad operated a sub-site on the platform of Moledet party website.

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    MKs receive an annual budget of 55,000 NIS to purchase products and services which will enable them to maintain their contact with the public. See MK’s Wages (Fees and endowments) Decision (2001), Article 27.

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    A copy of Ehud Yatom’s post was archived in the blogger Halemo’s Electronic Mail blog – http://halemo.net/edoar/0044/ehudyatomblog.html.

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    The blogger Halemo reports about Yatom’s correspondence with bloggers, which convinced Yatom to open a blog, and the online reception he received, which led him eventually to remove the blog (Halemo 2004).

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    Former MK Yossi Beilin’s blog on The Marker Café platform (posts archive – March 2007), http://cafe.themarker.com/blog/25378/.

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    See, for example, former MK Ami Ayalon’s speech at the Labor party convention (14 December 2006), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVprEc9NnHY; or Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech on Iran (19 December 2006), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCxesdM8ui0.

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    MKs’ and Politicians’ ring of blogs, Israblog – http://israblog.nana10.co.il/ring_list.asp?ringcode=27303 (Uzi Landau, Colette Avital, Arieh Eldad, Michael Eitan, Nadia Hilou, Matan Vilnai, Stas Misezhnikov and Avraham Burg).

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    Jerusalem Post, BlogCentral – Political Circle, http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/. The political blog ring is not available any longer, whereas on the eve of the 18th Knesset general elections it was populated by MKs Binyamin Netanyahu, Colette Avital, Tzachi Hanegbi and Efraim Sneh; previously among the writers were MKs Avigdor Liberman, Rabbi Avraham Ravitz and Benny Elon.

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    18th Knesset MKs – Haim Oron, Arieh Eldad, Dov Khenin, Ahmad Tibi, Yaakov Margi, Orit Noked and David Rotem (as well as 17th Knesset MKs Ran Cohen and Yossi Beilin).

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    Israel Hason, then a member of the Israel Beiteinu party and today a member of the Kadima party, initiated a bill concerning online comments (aka The Talkback Law). It casts legal liability on popular websites (ones with an average of 50,000 hits per day, which are to be considered “newspapers” for this matter) for damages or harm caused to a person as a result of its users’ comments. The bill received harsh criticism due to the risks it poses to freedom of speech, the right to privacy and the right to fair trial. Despite the fact that it passed its preliminary reading, legislation procedures were frozen by the Knesset in May 2008.

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    The use of joint pictures with then-senator Barack Obama, taken during his visit to Israel as part of his electoral campaign, was very prevalent among MKs.

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    Meretz’s Blogosphere – http://blogs.newmeretz.org.il. No longer available online.

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    Labor party blogs – http://www.havoda.org.il/Web/Default.aspx. (The blogs are no longer available, other content is now featured.)

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    Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s personal blog, http://shas.org.il/node/349. No longer available online.

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    A few empiric notes: It should be noted that these categories are open, cumulative and do not exclude one another. N=43. Figures were rounding off. In reference to Kadima MKs who operate personal websites although they were allocated sub-sites on the Kadima party website platform, reference was made only to their personal websites as their sub-sites were not maintained or updated. Although in the Likudnik sub-site list the websites of Binyamin Netanyahu, Gideon Saar and Ruvi Rivlin were also enumerated, they were classified as independent websites as they are not hosted on the physical platform of the Likudnik domain. MK Silvan Shalom had two active websites at the time: one a sub-site on Likudnik platform and the other an independent site. Both were included in the list of active websites. Social networks blogs which were operated by MKs only for the purpose of their electoral campaign were not included in the list of active personal web applications.

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    http://www.yallakadima.co.il/default.asp. No longer available online.

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    Article 21(a) Parties Law (1992), amendment no. 4. Book of Laws 1995: p. 432.

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    Yalla Kadima site, About page, http://www.yallakadima.co.il/pages.asp?cont_page_id=1. No longer available online.

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    Likudnik site, editorial board, http://www.likudnik.co.il/. The text is no longer available on the site.

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    One can maintain that the exposure to these websites is limited to party activists, compared to the independent websites which are not attributed to a party portal. However, a Google search regarding Silvan Shalom and Gideon Saar’s websites over the Likudnik platform suggests that these were ranked among the first search results (fourth result for Silvan Shalom’s site and first result for Gideon Saar’s site). (The search was conducted on 29 March 2009.)

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    Lev-On, Oppositional voices in the new media map 1 (2011).

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    Yalla Kadima portal sub-sites are not characterized by unique domain names and one cannot identify the site’s operator merely by URL. For example – the link to the late MK Zeev Boim was http://www.yallakadima.co.il/candidate/main.asp?cand_id=29 (no longer available online). Some of the sub-sites on the Likudnik portal have independent URLs, such as Ruvi Rivlin’s website http://www.rivlin.org.il (no longer available online) and Gideon Saar’s website http://www.gideonsaar.com/, while other Likudnik sub-sites include the word likudnik. For instance Silvan Shalom’s sub-site is http://silvan.likudnik.co.il.

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    As aforementioned, MK Silvan Shalom had two active websites: a sub-site on the Likudnik platform and an independent website. Both were included in the list of active websites.

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    Not available online since 2009.

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    General list of MPs and Lords, http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/. Personal page includes email as well as web and social media references – http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/edward-miliband/1510.

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    Not available online since 2009.

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    Not available online since 2009.

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    Over the course of time, traditional and digital journalism have given this a great deal of attention. Among others: Banner 2004; Shabbat 2005; Korpel 2007; Lapin and Kenan 2007; Mor 2007.

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    MK Zehava Gal-On’s former website is viewable (in part) via the Internet archive, http://web.archive.org/web/20080117134736/http://www.zehavagalon.org.il.

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    Ran Cohen’s website, under the slogan “Meretz is People. MK Ran Cohen, a nominee for Meretz’s chairman position.” http://www.rancohen.co.il. Not available online since 2009.

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    On the main page of http://www.jumes.org.il (no longer available online) under the slogan “Welcome! We invite you to enter Jumes’s new blog,” one can choose the option “No Thanks, Continue” and then reach Haim Oron’s official website – headed by the slogan “Jumes for Meretz presidency: Meretz has a Future” http://www.jumes.org.il/index.php (no longer available online).

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    On the main page of http://www.jumes.org.il (no longer available online) under the slogan “Welcome! We invite you to enter Jumes’s new blog,” one can choose the option “Yes, I want to enter Jumes’s new blog” and then be redirected to the official blog on Meretz’s website, http://blogs.newmeretz.org.il/jumes (no longer available online).

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    See Michael Eitan’s post on this subject on The Marker Café as well as the readers’ comments (Eitan 2009).

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    Thus, although most MPs in Britain and in Canada demonstrate an online presence, human interaction feature integration is as low as only 8%. See Francoli 2008; Zittel 2008.

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Article note: It should be noted that the original article was written in 2009 and therefore some of its insights are no longer relevant; the Internet as well as politicians’ web usage keeps progressing. On the other hand, most of the insights are more relevant than ever.

Published Online: 2013-7-23

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/wpsr-2013-0010
Keywords for this article
e-Politics; Israel; online political activity; MKs; personal websites

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Article
  3. The Production of Institutional Facts in Economic Discourse
  4. Different Paths of Transitional Justice in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland
  5. Homo Politicus – Towards a Theory of Political Action and Motivation
  6. Global Victimhood: On the Charisma of the Victim in Transitional Justice Processes
  7. Intervention and Promotion of Democracy. The Paradoxes of External Democratization and the Power-Sharing Between International Officials and Local Political Leaders
  8. Foreign Impacts Revisited: Islamists’ Struggles in Post-War Iraq
  9. Concentration of Decision-Making Power: Investigating the Role of the Norwegian Cabinet Subcommittee
  10. Referendum: A Complement or a Threat to Representative Democracy?
  11. MKs Usage of Personal Internet Tools, 2009: On the verge of a New Decade
  12. Ten Years of European Impact Assessment: How It Works, for What and for Whom
  13. Political Parties and Pension Generosity in Times of Permanent Austerity
  14. The Electoral Consequences of Welfare State Reforms for the Danish Social Democrats
  15. Electoral Competition and the Constituent-Representative Relationship
  16. Austria Inc. Forever? On the Stability of a Coordinated Corporate Network in Times of Privatization and Internationalization
  17. Development of Health Care in Lithuania and Estonia: Similar Conditions, Different Results
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