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Israeli threat to detain Palestinian activists in response to global cyber-attack

February 15, 2014 at 1:28 pm

An advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Israel plans to arrest Palestinian activists in response to a global cyber-attack. Telecommunication and technology expert Sabri Seedam told Wafa news agency that there are no actual indications that Palestinian activists were connected to cyber-attacks against Israel. “These things take place in the global internet zone which is open to all,” he said.


The response from Israel refers to threats by activists around the world to carry out a massive cyber-attack on Israeli websites over the weekend. In fact, a number of such websites, including those of Israel’s education and foreign ministries, were hacked into for seconds or minutes. However, claim government sources, they were not damaged. The intention of the hackers was, pre-publicity claimed, to “remove Israel from the internet map”, timing the move to coincide with commemoration of the Holocaust. The hackers said that the attack would be the largest of its kind against a single country.

Seedam stressed the importance of being ready for such attacks by preparing backup copies for websites and servers, as well as the necessity to update firewalls and other internet protection software. He also pointed out that there is no such thing as complete security in cyberspace. The former Palestinian telecommunication minister added that internet services would be affected severely if Israel cuts the service to the occupied Palestinian territories.