Israeli TV hacked with ‘divine retribution’ message
Anti-Israel hackers take over live broadcasts on Channels 2 and 10, write recent wave of fires was punishment for muezzin bill
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Two Israeli television news programs were briefly hacked, with images promoting Islam and a message suggesting a recent wave of fires was divine retribution shown in their place.
Tuesday night’s incident came ahead of an expected vote in the Knesset on a bill to prevent the use of loudspeakers for all religious purposes, which would in effect outlaw their use in mosques.
Programs on Channels 2 and 10 were interrupted for around 30 seconds by images of Muslim sites, including the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which Muslims refer to as Haram al-Sharif, meaning the noble sanctuary.
A call to prayer was also played as well as a message that seemed to refer to divine retribution.
האקרים השתלטו על שידורי מהדורת חדשות 2, ובמקום – שידרו קריאת מואזין pic.twitter.com/lCmDajZXh4
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) November 29, 2016
The Knesset was expected to have an initial vote on the bill to prevent the use of loudspeakers for religious purposes on Wednesday, but in the end the vote was delayed for a later date.
Major fires fed by high winds and dry conditions hit parts of Israel and the West Bank last week, destroying hundreds of homes and causing tens of thousands to evacuate.
In July 2014, pirates hacked the Israeli military’s Twitter account during that year’s war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A hacking campaign in January 2012 claimed by a group of Saudis and Palestinians from Gaza hit official sites, including those of the Tel Aviv stock exchange and Israeli airline El Al.
Those two attacks managed to expose tens of thousands of credit card details.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report
The Times of Israel Community.