International hacking group threatens cyber attack on Israel
Published April 6, 2015
(JTA) — The international hacking group Anonymous said it will target Israeli websites in a coordinated effort it called an “electronic Holocaust.”
The organization said its “elite cyber squadrons” would attack Israeli servers, government websites, Israeli military websites, banks and public institutions on April 7.
“This is a message to the foolish Zionist entities: We are coming back to punish you again for your crimes in the Palestinian territories, as we do every year on the 7th of April. All we see is continued aggression, bombing, killing and kidnapping of the Palestinian people,” said the video message posted last month on YouTube.
The video message showed images of last summer’s conflict in Gaza, including video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being briefed by Israeli army officers.
The April 7 attack, the video said, is an “electronic Holocaust” designed to be “a message to the youth of Palestine.”
“You are a symbol of freedom, resistance and hope. Never give up and never give in, we will support you,” the message said.
The attacks will continue, Anonymous said, “until the people of Palestine are free.”
Exactly one year ago, Anonymous launched an identical attack against Israel which brought down the websites of the country’s postal service and Education Ministry, as well as some private Israeli websites. The group also published online a list of phone numbers, emails and passwords of senior Israeli officials. The year before that, the group took down dozens of websites and published online a list of hundreds of Israeli email addresses and credit card numbers.