Is Metacafe propaganda and disinfo ?

OK, guys, slow down and I'll answer you one at a time.

Ruth, do you really believe that I have a 'brief' for how I should answer questions on this board? Are you being silly or serious? What agenda could I possibly be serving by writing posts here?

hkoehli had some questions for me:
Perhaps you can relate to us whatever information you have on the use of AMDOCS technology for funneling information to Israel? Any personal experience? Any 'friends' involved in the activities? Did you know Ophir Baer, one of the Israeli 'art students' who was caught spying on military/gov buildings in the States? Or any other AMDOCS-related individuals posing as art students?

Were you involved, or have any interactions, with the Israeli mafia who was using AMDOCS to alert their drug-dealers and con-men about information relating to the officers involved in their investigation? Were you, yourself, an "art student" in the US during 2001 or previously?
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Sadly I have no information or experience pertaining to any of this. I don't know Ophir Baer. I don't have any friends involved in spying (although they wouldn't be very good spies if I knew about it, I guess). According to the results of a Google search Ophir Baer was born in 1956. I'm not sure how convincing he could have been posing as an art student.

If you ask me whether I believe Israel has spies. I think the answer is 'yes'. If you ask me whether Israel has people spying on its allies, I think the answer to that is also probably 'yes'. If you ask me whether that makes it any different from the US, the UK, France, etc., then I think the answer is 'no'. It's hardly earth-shattering.

As for the connections between Amdocs and the Israeli Mafia - I googled this as it was the first time I'd heard about it including even the 5 years I worked there. My understanding is that there was a lot of speculation, but no prosecutions. I appreciate that this is inconclusive. Is there an Israeli Mafia? Yes. Does it collude with a multi-national, publicly traded, telecommunications firm? Sounds fanciful, but I guess it's possible. My problem with theories like this is that they encourage the idea that all Jews work with all other Jews for the betterment of Jews regardless of individual citizenship, international law or common decency. Even if this story is proven true (which it hasn't been), the reason why one particular case of corporate nefariousness is highlighted over others is because this one has Jews in it.

I visited the US and Canada several times during 2001 as an employee of Amdocs. I was never an art student. I was in Toronto on 9/11. It was spooky.

anart. Hmmm. I've obviously done something to upset you and I can't imagine what it was. Could you please elaborate? You asked me, "What exactly did you help us with, that you would be offering further assistance?" I thought I had cleared up the question of why Metacafe appeared at two different addresses. I thought I had answered the question of whether I was a real person or a phantom planted at random Israeli companies to disrupt western civilisation. I thought I had been courteous and, perhaps, fun. I see now that I was wrong.

Now domivr... you wrote "Yes, I thought it was interesting that there was a person with the same name at Amdocs, which I knew to be an Israeli company. I figured this person was Israeli and jewish. I thought that it was interesting that Sevitt was a jewish last name."

Actually I'm from the UK, although I currently live in Israel. I don't believe I told you my religion. Was I supposed to? I must have missed that field on the registration form.

You're listed as the only point of contact on the website, so doesn't it make sense that I would plug your name into a search engine?
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Er... read that back to yourself and tell me if it really, really 'makes sense'. I'm listed as the point of contact for copyright infringements for an online video site, so you think it's normal to Google me and see where else I've worked? Sorry, but it still has a slight whiff of Eau de Odd.

Out of curiousity: How did you find this forum?
Since you appreciate indie movies: have you seen Zero Degrees of Seperation and what did you think of it.
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I Googled myself or Metacafe or a combination (I don't remember exactly) and didn't recognise your site so I stopped by for a visit and a giggle.

I haven't seen Zero Degrees of Separation, although after visiting the imdb, I think I must have read about it somewhere or at least read an article about Selim and Ezra. It got a great write-up in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100601586.html?nav=emailpage). Sadly I just don't get to see as many documentaries as I would like.
 
I didn't give much interest to this thread until the contributions of one of Metacafe's employees gave some more life to the topic.

So I decided to have a look at Metacafe (until today I didn't know what it was).

While going through different articles I found this one in the French Israeli Chamber of Commerce Website.
http:(double slash)www.israelvalley(dot)com/edito/2006/11/27/6680/israel-exclusif-metacafe-defend-son-business-model-face-a-youtube

Here is the translation of one of the first paragraphs :

The start up was founded about three years ago by the jet fighter pilot, Arik Czerniak, who comes from Tsahal high tech units and got a MBA in Banking and Finance from the Hebraic University of Jerusalem,...

Original excerpt (in French) :
La jeune pousse a ete fondee voila pres de trois ans par le pilote de chasse Arik Czerniak, issu des unites high tech de Tsahal et titulaire d'un MBA de banque et finances de l'Universite hebraique de Jerusalem,...
 
daniel said:
Now domivr... you wrote "Yes, I thought it was interesting that there was a person with the same name at Amdocs, which I knew to be an Israeli company. I figured this person was Israeli and jewish. I thought that it was interesting that Sevitt was a jewish last name."

Actually I'm from the UK, although I currently live in Israel. I don't believe I told you my religion. Was I supposed to? I must have missed that field on the registration form.
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You read the part about me jumping to conclusions, right?

The religion bit was/is only relevant to me in the sense of the last name. Another example are the naming conventions in India that are caste based.

No you didn't tell me about your religion. For all I know you are a follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster whose touch of its tepid, wet noodle can bring salvation.

daniel said:
You're listed as the only point of contact on the website, so doesn't it make sense that I would plug your name into a search engine?
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Er... read that back to yourself and tell me if it really, really 'makes sense'. I'm listed as the point of contact for copyright infringements for an online video site, so you think it's normal to Google me and see where else I've worked? Sorry, but it still has a slight whiff of Eau de Odd.
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Let me elaborate some more...
The metacafe website has no page with a list of upper managment and their bios, which is not uncommon for a company website to have (especially the exchange listed ones). I look at those often to see if I notice any familiar faces and to see what people's accomplishments are (e.g. which companies were they with before).
Since there was really only one real name on the website (-> yours) I decided to search on it to see what information was available. The idea was that through that search I could find out more about the company, which I did.

Still odd?
 
daniel said:
Again, none of this is secret.
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Indeed as stated previously the information is available (amongst other sources) in the Israel-France Chamber of Commerce Website.

daniel said:
What's your point exactly?
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Trying to share objective information.
 
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