Israelis may not be able to vote in the presidential contest, but Hebrew-speaking supporters of Barack Obama have launched an online blog for the Illinois senator in their own language.

Posted today on the Israeli Internet site Tapuz, the relatively barebones Web page has a transcript of Obama’s March 2007 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, both in English and in Hebrew translation, as well as a brief biography of the senator.

A report published today by the Israeli Web site Y-Net stated that the new Web site was an official communication outlet produced by the Obama campaign — a claim disputed by two advisers to the senator.

“It’s a private blog; it’s not Senator Obama’s blog,” one adviser told the Forward. “But clearly, we are appreciative of people around the world who want to put out Senator Obama’s policies on the Middle East.”

The adviser said that the confusion stemmed from a press release sent out by the creators of the site.

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