Anonymous Takes Down Israeli Government Websites

Notorious hacktivism group Anonymous has carried a major assault on the Israeli Government, shutting down 43 of its websites.

The attack was inspired by the killing of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Orwah Hammad, who was shot by members of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in the village of Silwad on Friday.

Among the websites taken down via DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks were the Office of the Prime Minister, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel Securities Authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade, State of Israel Mail and Israeli Immigration, as well as that of the IDF.

Retailiation

“#‎OpOrwahHammad has officially kicked-off now, and Israeli government websites are feeling it,” the group said in a statement posted on Pastebin accompanying the list of affected websites.

“Anonymous is targeting Israeli government websites in protest of the killing of young Orwah Hammad and many Palestinians alike. The world will not stand by such brutality. Israeli Government beware for you should have Expected Us.”

Some of the affected websites appear to be operational now, but some are still offline, including the Ministry of Defence website.

Hammad was killed by an IDF expedition following several recent skirmishes in and around Jersualem following the Jewish Sukkot holiday.

He was shot in the head after reportedly throwing a Molotov Cocktail at a patrol. His death led the US State Department to call for a “speedy and transparent investigation” amid growing scrutiny of the events inside the territory.

Anonymous has hit several other government websites in the past, most notably that of the Chilean government in late 2012. This attack was carried out by a 12 year old Canadian boy, who also admitted to hacking the websites of local police and the Quebec Institute of Public Health among others.

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