A group of hackers, calling itself Anonymous, managed to infiltrate sensitive Israeli websites that belong to the Israeli Army and security services, and was able to shut them down. The attacks are said to be an act of retaliation against Israel’s interception of the two solidarity ships that were heading to Gaza last week.Israeli sources reported that the websites of the army, the internal security agency, Shin Bet, and the foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, were totally offline Sunday until the evening.
The Australian online daily reported that the website of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was not hacked, and that it initially claimed that the outage of the websites “was caused by a technical failure, and not by hackers.”
Spokesperson for Netanyahu, Ofir Gendelman, claimed on his twitter feed that the Websites went offline due to a malfunction in the servers.
A “hacktivist” group calling itself ‘Anonymous’ claimed responsibility for the cyber-attacks. The group posted a Youtube a few days ago stating that it will retaliate against the Israeli government for intercepting the two ships that were heading to Gaza last week to deliver humanitarian supplies, and to challenge the illegal Israeli siege of the coastal enclave.
The boats were carrying 27 human rights activists, in addition to journalists and crew members; they were intercepted in international waters, and not in Israeli waters.
Hacktivists also published a video dubbed “An Open Letter from Anonymous”, stating that the Israeli government is conducting “piracy in the high seas”.
The group stated that it will not tolerate such attacks carried out against unarmed civilians, adding that they, along with 127 countries around the world, recognize Palestine as the state of the Palestinian people, and that the Israeli actions, and the actions of its military, are considered a declaration of war.
Anonymous previously targeted Websites of several corporations, including Credit Card Company’s which refused to transfer donations made to Wikileaks.
It is also believed to be behind the attack of the Syrian Defence Ministry Website, to protest the Syrian government’s continuing bloodshed of its own people.
On May 31, 2010, the Israeli Navy violently boarded the MV Marmara ship, part of the Freedom Flotilla that was heading to Gaza to deliver medical and humanitarian supplies, killing nine Turkish activists and wounding several others before towing the ships to the Ashdod Port.
Addressing Israel, the group stated in the video that should Tel Aviv continue its illegal siege on Gaza, or continue its deadly attacks, the group “will then have no other option but to strike back.”
