OpIsrael (#OpIsrael), is an annual coordinated

cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricte ...

where hacktivists attack Israeli government and even private websites with DDoS attacks and more.As cyber-war begins, Israeli hackers hit back
Times of Israel 07-04-2013 The inaugural campaign was launched in 2013 by

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anony ...

hackers on the eve of

Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah ( he, יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, , lit=Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Reme ...

. The campaign has since been held annually. The inaugural OpIsrael was reported to have no physical damage and was assessed by the

Israeli Government The Cabinet of Israel (officially: he, ממשלת ישראל ''Memshelet Yisrael'') exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the governmen ...

's National Cyber Bureau and by all security experts and journalists to have been a failure.Botched mission? #OpIsrael cyberattack fails to frustrate Israeli govt
Al-Arabiya 07-04-2013

Targeted websites

Larger than Life, an Israeli NGO devoted to "improving the quality of life and welfare of cancer-stricken children and their families regardless of sex, religion and nationality", stated that in the week leading up to #OpIsrael, its website was targeted repeatedly by pro-Palestinian hackers who defaced it with "flags, a skull, symbols, and all sorts of hate-related things". In the leadup to the attack, Israeli organizations made preparations to defend their websites, and cyber-security experts called on home users to increase awareness and take precautions such as changing passwords, not opening strange or suspicious emails, and maintaining especial vigilance when using

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

. The

Israel Internet Association Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL; he, איגוד האינטרנט הישראלי, links=no) is a non-profit organization and .il country code top-level domains (ccTLD) registry managed by seven volunteer board members. It was the second organi ...

(ISOC) operated a

hotline A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that auto ...

for people to report attacks and published real-time status reports on its website.Israeli cyber activists attack anti-Israel hackers
Jerusalem Post 07-04-2013, Admin Takeover, Database Breaches and Leaks, Admin Panel Takeover, Defacement and other means.

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

, Israel's national

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

museum, came under a "fairly massive attack". Nevertheless, its website was fully operational on the day of the attack, which overlapped with

.Israel Says It Repelled Most Attacks on Its Web Sites by Pro-Palestinian Hackers
New York Times 07-04-2013 At midday, #OpIsrael activists announced on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that they had defaced the website of an Israeli

hair salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas. Beauty treatments Massage for the body is a ...

, Peter Hair, in

Ramat HaSharon Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon ...

. The salon's home page showed a masked person holding a sign saying "

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

n Security Down #OP ISRAHELL" and was signed with the message "We are

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s, Soldier 'sic''of

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", a ...

". The owner of the salon, Peter Imseis, said he had not been aware that the site had been hacked and that it had not affected his business. Government websites that experienced problems on 7 April 2013 included those of the Israeli Ministry of Education and Central Bureau of Statistics, but it was unclear whether these problems were caused by #OpIsrael. During the day, attackers posted numerous false and grandiose claims of successes, such as "Anonymous causes Israel to lose $5 billion" in stock market losses and "

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

loses all Internet connection".

Responses

The attack was praised by

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qas ...

, the militant Islamist group that controls the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. Hamas spokesman Ihab al-Ghussain wrote: "May God protect the spirit and mission of the soldiers of this electronic war".Cyberwarfare: Hackers launch attacks on Israel
Der Spiegel 07-04-2013 (German) A statement on the website of the

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n Renaissance Party, signed by party leader Rashid Al-Ghannouchi, expressed "condemnation of all those who do not pursue a policy of dialogue to reach its objectives and follow the methods of terrorists to reach its goals", and threatening "to prosecute anyone involved from Tunisia in attacks on Israel on charges of compromising the security of a foreign state". Tunisians quickly mobilized against the party, with some lawyers offering to defend hackers charged with attacking Israel free of charge. The Renaissance Party later issued a different statement saying that their website had itself been hacked and that the party does not condemn cyberattacks on Israel.

Counterattack

The attack drew a response by pro-Israel hackers, who quickly took over #OpIsrael's websit
OpIsrael.com
ref name='cyberwarz_art
#opIsrael: Hackers launch opisrael.com website
Cyber War Zone 03-16-2013 and filled it with pro-Israel content.#OpIsrael Backfires
Jerusalem Post (blogs) 07-04-2013 The DNS record of opisrael.com showed a purchase made under the name 'Al Qaeda'. OpIsrael stated that it had never been their official website, which they said wa
OperationIsrael.tk/
OpIsrael
Twitter 9-4-2013

References

{{reflist, 30em Hacking in the 2010s 2013 in Israel Cyberattacks Anti-Zionism