Israel

Shimon Peres joined Twitter on 6 June 2011, but the President’s Twitter account only became active on 23 February 2012. The account tweets on average a couple of times per day in English and in Hebrew. The President’s Twitter account communicates very formally, providing regular updates on the agenda of the Israeli President. Peres’ first tweet was an invitation to a Facebook Live interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. His most retweeted tweet is "my tip for leaders don't be a ruler be a servant", a comment he made during an interview with political commentator Bill Maher. His team also live tweets his speeches like his keynote before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: “I meet from time to time with President #Abbas and PM Fayyad. They need and want peace. I believe that #peace is possible.” “#Peace can and must be achieved with them. A peace based on a two-state Solution: A Jewish state - #Israel, An Arab state - #Palestine”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to AIPAC on 24 May 2011: “Two nations, two peoples bonded in liberty seeking freedom & peace for all”, received the most retweets. The Israeli Prime Minister’s personal account is managed by the Likud Party office. Netanyahu’s account only follows Israeli embassies around the world and the official account of the Israeli Prime Minister but no other peers. Benjamin Netanyahu is the 10th world leader to have joined Twitter on 30 October 2008 but he doesn’t tweet personally. Furthermore he does not have many two-way conversation on Twitter as he has produced only 13 @replies.

The Prime Minister’s office, which has been on Twitter since May 2010, provides updates on the Prime Minister’s agenda. “The Prime Minister starts the day tweeting on Twitter” was the account’s first beginning on the social network. The account uses very formal language and has been reasonably active with two to three tweets a day on average. The account unilaterally even follows nine other world leaders, including the Palestinian government. Furthermore, the office tweets in Hebrew, but important messages are tweeted in Arabic and English. Its tweet on 11 October 2011, “We have concluded ardeous [sic] negotiations with #Hamas to release #Gilad #Shalit. He will be coming home in the next few days” received the most retweets and is of historical importance for Israel. A week later the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released by Hamas militants as part of a prisoner exchange deal.