Hackers threaten cyber attack against Israel; Mossad, IDF websites down
International hacker group says will disable government computer systems after Israel Navy interception of 2 Gaza-bound vessels on Friday; calls interception ‘an act of war.’
The international cabal of hackers known as Anonymous is threatening a cyber-attack on the Israeli government’s computers in response to its interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla on Friday.
In a video that was uploaded to YouTube, the groups warns that if the siege on Gaza is maintained, it will have no choice but to go on the attack.
On Sunday, the websites of the IDF, Mossad and the Shin Bet security services were down. It is still not clear whether this was linked to threat of “Anonymous.”
In the video, the group accused the Israeli government of breaching international law and of piracy, because IDF naval commandos boarded the boats 35 nautical miles from the coast, in international waters.
“We do not tolerate this kind of repeated offensive behavior against unarmed civilians,” the group said in the video message.
“We along with 127 countries recognize Palestine as a state for the people of Palestine and such acts by you and your military are acts of war against a sovereign nation,” they added.
Anonymous said that if the siege continues and Israeli forces intercept additional flotillas, or if they conduct additional operations such as the commandeering of the Mavi Marmara, it will have no alternative but to launch repeated cyber-attacks on Israeli computer systems until the siege ends.
Anonymous has succeeded in the past in bringing about the temporary disabling of many websites, including credit card companies that refused to transfer donations to the WikiLeaks organization.
Several months ago, Anonymous announced that they have the code for Stuxnet, which was distributed on the internet. Security experts usually do not see them as a strategic threat, as they do programmers who are responsible for this type of malicious software.
Anonymous threatened to disable the Knesset website a few months ago, but even if hacking did occur then, the website continued to function and did not suffer any apparent damage.
Former Bush Speechwriter: Shooting People On Gaza Flotilla "OK" Because Participants Are Like Nazis
politicalcorrection.orgThis week the second international Freedom Flotilla will embark to Gaza from several ports in Europe. The flotilla represents an act of non-violent civil disobedience aimed at ending Israel’s four-year-long illegal blockade of the tiny strip of land populated by 1.6 million Palestinians.
At least ten ships carrying dignitaries, doctors, professors, artists, journalists, and activists as well as construction supplies and humanitarian aid are expected to sail. The New York Times and CNN are among several outlets sending journalists to cover the event.
Critics of the flotilla contend that it is an unnecessary provocation — more of a political statement than a relief mission — because Israel has lately been allowing more goods into Gaza and Egypt has, since the revolution, intermittently opened its side of the border.
Even if that is true — even if the need is somewhat less urgent — the blockading of Gaza should be protested as illegal, as are all forms of collective punishment.
Israel has the right to keep weapons that might be used against Israelis out of Gaza (assuming that, as is the case, Gaza remains under Israeli occupation). But it has no right to keep out consumer goods like certain foodstuffs or the construction material needed to rebuild homes and schools after the devastation Israel inflicted on Gaza during the 2008-09 onslaught. That one-sided war took 1400 Palestinians lives (including several hundred children).
Nonetheless, under pressure from the Israeli government and its lobby, the Obama administration is taking a strong stand against the flotilla, even suggesting that Americans on board cannot expect the U.S. to intervene on their behalf if Israel attacks (in 2009, the IDF killed 9 passengers on a Turkish relief ship).
The far right is already lining up in support of whatever action Israel takes against the unarmed civilian relief activists.
Take a look at these tweets from Joshua Treviño, who was formerly a speechwriter in the Bush administration. He condemns Palestinians as morally depraved and deserving of any evil that befalls them.
However, Treviño, a veteran and a former aide to Bush’s HHS secretary, goes much farther than that. He openly calls for the Israelis to kill any of his fellow Americans who get in their way. “Dear IDF: If you end up shooting any Americans on the new Gaza flotilla — well, most Americans are cool with that. Including me.”
Erdogan: I was misquoted on "warships"
ynetnews.com“Turkish PM’s office softens threat of military clash at sea, says country ‘won’t send vessel to Mediterranean Sea as long as Israel avoids intervening in freedom of movement in international waters.’”
Freedom Flotilla
Due barche civili, la canadese Tahrir (Liberazione) e l’irlandese Saoirse (Libertà), con a bordo 27 passeggeri provenienti da 9 paesi(inclusi giornalisti ed equipaggio), stanno viaggiando in acque internazionali verso la Striscia di Gaza per sfidare l’assedio criminale e illegale imposto da Israele. Il messaggio che portano è di unità, di sfida, di speranza, nonostante Israele separi fisicamente i palestinesi gli uni dagli altri. Gli organizzatori del “Freedom Waves to Gaza” hanno scelto di non pubblicizzare l’impresa in anticipo viste le azioni israeliane per bloccare e sabotare la Freedom Flotilla II lo scorso luglio. Le barche, che sono salpate da Fethiye, Turchia, sono attese a Gaza venerdì pomeriggio; navigheranno in acque internazionali ed entreranno direttamente nelle acque territoriali di Gaza, senza attraversare le acque territoriali di Israele. Le barche porteranno un carico simbolico - $ 30.000 in medicine, insieme ad un gruppo eterogeneo di passeggeri, tutti impegnati nella difesa non violenta della flottiglia e dei diritti umani del popolo palestinese.
“Israeleha ingabbiato i palestinesi a Gaza e in Cisgiordania, e ci proibisce di incontrarci fisicamente. Vogliamo rompere l’assedio che Israele ha imposto al nostro popolo”, ha affermato Majd Kayyal, uno studente di filosofia palestinese di Haifa, a bordo della Tahrir. Kayyal ha aggiunto: “Il fatto che siamo in acque internazionali è già una vittoria per il movimento. L’assedio israeliano imposto su Gaza è insostenibile e porre fine a questa ingiustizia è una responsabilità morale”.
Nel frattempo, i giovani palestinesi hanno firmato una dichiarazione che esorta la comunità internazionale e le Nazioni Unite in particolare,”ad adottare misure urgenti per proteggere questa missione e porre fine alla loro complicità con il blocco criminale imposto da Israele sulla Striscia di Gaza.”Essi hanno condannato le precedenti dichiarazioni del segretario generale dell’ONU, che richiedeva che gli aiuti a Gaza passassero attraverso “valichi legittimi e canali prestabiliti”,nonostante l’ONU stessa abbia ammesso che il fallimento di Israele nell’adempiere alle sue responsabilità ha creato una crisi senza precedenti della dignità umana.
Durante questa settimana attivisti palestinesi in Cisgiordania e in Israele stanno organizzando azioni di solidarietà con la missione Freedom Waves,tra cui un sit in presso il complesso delle Nazioni Unite (TokyoStreet, Ramallah) e raduni in altre città della Cisgiordania.
Questa missione rappresenta l’undicesimo tentativo di rompere l’assedio di Gaza via mare. In precedenza, cinque missioni sono riuscite a raggiungere Gaza tra agosto e dicembre 2008,mentre le altre sono state intercettate e violentemente bloccate da Israele. Nel maggio 2010, Israele ha attaccato i passeggeri della Freedom Flotilla in acque internazionali, uccidendo nove civili e ferendone oltre 50. Le azioni di Israele sono state ampiamente e ripetutamente denunciate e condannate in tutto il mondo. I tentativi di portare una seconda flottiglia a Gaza sono stati vanificati lo scorso luglio dal governo greco sotto pressione di Israele e dei governi occidentali, e da atti di sabotaggio israeliano.
Israele ha intensificato nei giorni scorsi i bombardamenti aerei su Gaza, sottolineando la necessità di iniziative internazionali simili a questa che possano fungere da deterrente per Israele.
Democracy Now! - Action Alert: Israel Detains Democracy Now! Correspondent Jihan Hafiz Aboard Gaza Flotilla
Been trying to spread the word about this as much as possible. Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz (Twitter: @jhafiz22) is among several journalists detained in Israel after they were arrested today while reporting on the “Freedom Waves to Gaza” flotilla.
As a student journalist and former intern with Democracy Now!, this concerns me greatly. Here is the link to the alert on the DN! website, where viewers are urged to contact their representatives asking to help secure Hafiz’s release:
Action Alert: Israel Detains Democracy Now! Correspondent Jihan Hafiz Aboard Gaza Flotilla
