Billionaire wants Jewish al-Jazeera

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WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- Russian billionaire Alexander Mashkevich plans to establish a Jewish version of al-Jazeera to combat the negative image of Israel portrayed in the media.

"Every day and every hour people get negative information about Israel. Therefore, the most important thing is to represent Israel on an international level, with real information," The Jerusalem Post quoted Mashkevich saying at a conference of the United Israel Appeal in Washington.

"I think this idea should be implemented. I already spoke about it several years ago with Israeli government officials and with influential people in the Jewish world, and everyone agrees that such a channel is necessary," the Post quoted him saying.

Mashkevich stressed the new station would not deal in propaganda but report accurately on events in Israel, the newspaper said.

The only thing missing is to find a name for the new station, he said.