According to the association, there are currently over 250,000 ".il" registered domain names, under four different extensions: co.il, gov.il, org.il and ac.il.
By EYTAN HALONComing soon: Internet domain names in Hebrew(photo credit: PEXELS)
Israelis will be able to register Internet domain names in Hebrew alone for the first time soon, following approval from the internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).ICANN, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit responsible for Domain Name System (DNS) policy since 1998, approved a request from the Israeli Internet Association on Tuesday to recognize the Hebrew version of .Israel as the extension and top-level Internet domain of Israel.Once rolled out “several months” from today, internet users will be able to type website domains in Hebrew alone, from right to left, with the .Israel country code. ICANN has only approved a modest number of non-Latin alphabet domain names to date, including Chinese, Arabic and Cyrillic script.“Allocating the .Israel extension in Hebrew at the top-level domain of the Internet, and the possibility of registering domain names under this extension, will open up for Internet users in Israel a new layer of activity and access in the language spoken by the people,” said Israeli Internet Association CEO Adv. Yoram HaCohen.“The association has been managing the .il domain names for over 25 years without commercial or other considerations for the Israeli public, and with a commitment to the existence of stable, free and safe Israeli internet – and that will also be the case in the future with .Israel.”According to the association, there are currently over 250,000 “.il” registered domain names, under four different extensions: co.il, gov.il, org.il and ac.il.“The addition of the .Israel extension enriches the opportunities for surfers and website owners in the Israeli cyber space and strengthens its level of protection,” said National Cyber Directorate director-general Yigal Unna.“I congratulate the Israeli Internet Association for successfully completing the process with ICANN. This is another step in the significant process leading the association to continually strengthen the level of protection in the internet space, while adhering to standards of public accountability.”
