January 3, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The credit card information of hundreds of thousands of Israelis was released online by Saudi hackers.

Members of the Saudi hacking ring Group-XP took credit for the release of the information on Monday. The information, including credit card details, the holders’ names, addresses, phone numbers and national identification numbers, were posted on a popular Israeli sports website.

The hackers called the posting of the information a “gift to the world for the new year,” which they hoped “would hurt the Zionist pocket,” according to Ynet.

The information reportedly came from Jewish websites from which Israelis made purchases, as well as a website for making donations.

The Bank of Israel released a statement saying that the approximately 15,000 credit card holders affected by the hacking will not be responsible for fraudulent charges based on the incident.

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