Taking their cue from the recent American presidential elections, the Likud, Meretz and Kadima parties are placing a good deal of their campaign funds into their respective websites.

Likud is allocating almost one-half of its election funds, with Kadima spending a third of its campaign and Meretz reporting a sizable sum.

Likud is preparing Internet infomercials, Russian language content, which will be launched on Thursday. Each of the sites, English and Russian, employs ten people.

The Likud site will permit campaign donations as well as registering as a party member in the “spirit of the Obama campaign” the site’s webmaster reports.

As the party did in 2006, Kadima will focus heavily on its website and this time around, it will permit a direct link to Tzipi Livni. Kadima is also seeking to attract immigrant voters and as such, will also host a Russian language site. 20 people are earning a fulltime salary to keep the site and its content up and running.

Meretz or perhaps under the banner of a new left-wing entity, plans a massive Internet campaign. Two former Obama campaign workers have been brought to Israel to assist in creating a campaign success in Israel as the president-elect achieved in the USA with his resounding victory. Meretz officials are optimistic, explaining they have a powerful voice among the nation’s young, and the Internet is where they can be found.

Labor is dragging behind, primarily due to the party’s bleak fiscal realities. Its site is not expected to present any real competition to the other three mentioned.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)