Israellycool

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Israellycool is a well known pro-Israel blog, written by an Australian immigrant to Israel who goes by the name "Aussie Dave." The name Israellycool was chosen by Aussie Dave simply because "it is a nice play on words".

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Aussie Dave updates his blog nearly everyday, except during the Jewish Sabbath beginning Friday night and ending Saturday night. He also has a popular podcast, which he usually hosts by himself, but is occasionally joined by his wife Erika, or some other guests. Dave has made appearances on other well known podcasts, such as Shire Network News here or here where he debated with Egyptian Sandmonkey.

[edit] Focus

Israellycool is renowned for its interesting treatment of serious and non-serious topics alike. While the focus area of the blog and podcast is Israel and the Middle East conflict, Aussie Dave also deals regularly with pop culture. His Separated at Birth series is particularly well observed.

A supporter of the J-Blogosphere, Israellycool writer Aussie Dave was also the founder of the JIBs -- the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards, which were later taken over by the Jerusalem Post.

Above all, Israellycool is increasingly appreciated by mainstream media for its comprehensive treatment of the Middle East conflict. During the Israeli-Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, Aussie Dave liveblogged the war, resulting in increased awareness of blogs by the mainstream media. The extra attention received by Israellycool resulted in Aussie Dave being interviewed for various radio shows, including the BBC and Clear Channel Radio. He also appeared live on Sky News in a debate with Lebanese blogger Jamal.

[edit] Outreach

Of particular note is the site's reach and the respect it garners with bloggers who are not traditionally pro-Israel, including the Bahraini-based site, MidEastYouth which features a prominent link to Israellycool on its home page alongside links to Syrian, Iranian, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian and Iraqi blogs. In addition, a number of MidEastYouth's organizers often visit and comment on the Israellycool site as do bloggers from various parts of the Arab world.

[edit] Israellycool in the news

Although the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon War brought about a focus on both Israeli and Lebanese bloggers covering the War, Israellycool has been garnering interest from the global media for quite a while. Among the news outlets that have featured the blog or podcast are:

Through Israellycool, Aussie Dave was a Contributor to Pajamas Media, until he left them in 2007 due to dissatisfaction with their direction.

[edit] External links