(MintPress) – The hacktivist group Anonymous has vowed to strike Israel and “eliminate” it from the Internet, an attack, if successful, could be one of the largest ever against a foreign government. “Hacktivists Starting Cyber Attack against Israel on 7th of April,” Anonymous wrote on Twitter calling together hackers from across the world for the second “#OpIsrael” and continuing more than 44 million cyberattacks on Israeli government websites in recent years.
The original “#OpIsrael” was launched after Israel’s eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza November 2012 where the Israel Defense Force (IDF) launched a massive attack on the Gaza Strip killing more than 160 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians. IDF actions were widely criticized internationally and described as “barbaric and brutal” by Anonymous in online statements.
The Anonymous attack comes at the same time as widespread hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners held illegally without charge in Israeli prisons. The use of administrative detention has been used by Israeli authorities to hold Palestinians suspected of terrorism without charge or due process of law — both guaranteed as a basic democratic rights to citizens of Israel.
Samer Issawi is one of those who has been held for more than 200 days without a trial and remains on the brink of death during his more than 236-plus days-long hunger strike. He has lost more than 50 pounds and could go into cardiac arrest at any time, according to medical authorities.
These are just a few of what Anonymous calls human rights abuses by Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territory.
In response to this, hackers posted the names of 5,000 Israeli officials, including names, ID numbers and personal emails. The group was also involved in an attack in which the details of some 600,000 users of the popular Israeli email service “Walla” were exposed online.
The Israeli government is preparing for the second round of major attacks and taking Anonymous’ threats seriously. “It’s something being organized online over the past few days,” said Ofir Ben Avi, director of online group Accessible Government. “What distinguishes this plan when compared to previous attacks is that it really seems to be organized by Anonymous-affiliated groups from around the world in what looks like a joining of forces.”
“The attackers are attempting to harm the accessibility of Israel’s government websites on an ongoing basis. When events like the current operation occur, this sector heats up and we see increased activity, said Carmela Avner, Israel’s chief information officer. “Therefore, at this time, defending the governmental computer systems is of invaluable importance.”
While condemning the use of cyber-warfare, Israel has engaged in large scale Internet attacks against foreign countries, most notably, Iran.
Designed in 2007, Israel launched the covert “stuxnet virus” against Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility in 2010, allegedly delaying Iranian enrichment of nuclear materials.
For Anonymous, the attack on Israel represents a long-running assault on government and corporate websites. Formed in 2003, Anonymous has been responsible for hacking into government websites to protest surveillance and censorship policies that the group says are violations of civil liberties.
The most recent Anonymous attack occurred last month when hackers dumped the names and contact information of U.S. State Department employees on the Internet.
The attack was part of Operation Last Resort, a series of ongoing actions against U.S. government websites designed to combat what hacktivists see as overly restrictive copyright laws and rules of service on the Internet. No statistics exist on Anonymous because the group has no central leadership.