And even as MSN is working hard to put Google in their place, the big ‘G’ has managed to make a place for themselves in Israel. Google has pledged to make sure that the efforts spewing forth from the new office will be in Israeli interests.

According to local Google official Meir Brand, the company is committed to “focus on Israeli Web surfers, advertisers and Web site operators, and (help them to) interface with suitable services,” the Hebrew news Web site Ynet reported.

Beyond that, however, little information about the company’s plans was made available. “Google doesn’t talk about its future plans. We mean to invest in our surfers, and a lot of surprises can be expected in the coming year. But over here we don’t talk about products before they’re launched. First launch, then talk,” Israeli business newspaper TheMarker quoted Brand as saying.

TheMarker speculated that because the company has invested extensively in the new Israel office, including worker training and securing local contracts, “(Google’s) doing a lot more here than creating a search engine in Hebrew.” Source: Physorg.com

Tags: google, israel, israeli business newspaper, themarker, meir brand