Showing posts with label 'Electronic Holocaust'. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 'Electronic Holocaust'. Show all posts

Monday, January 4, 2016

Jesus Removed From Headlines in Israel - David Lazarus ISRAEL TODAY

Jesus Removed From Headlines in Israel

Monday, January 04, 2016 |  David Lazarus  
ISRAEL TODAY
Recently, I reported exciting news about a series of Hebrew-language testimonies promoting faith in Jesus by Messianic Jews on the front page of the popular “Walla! News,” one of Israel’s largest news corporations (see link to the article).
With sadness, I must now report that the video series about Jesus has been cancelled, and all references to Jesus and Messianic Jews have been removed from the site.
“Walla!” had taken a bold and calculated risk broadcasting a Messianic campaign that promotes interest in Jesus to their massive Israeli audience. We expected that there would be serious resistance to the unprecedented promotional by Messianic Jews on mainstream Israeli media. Eitan Bar, one of the Messianic Jews who had been interviewed for the series, told us that, “Messianics in Israel can expect strong reactions. We know that there will be unyielding opposition.” He was right.
According to Erez Soref, president of the Israel College of the Bible and one of the project’s initiators, here’s what happened: 
“’Walla! News’ received intense threats from some within the Ultra-Orthodox community, which banded together threatening to sue the company because of the exposure 'Walla! News' provided to the name of Yeshua and to Messianic Jews. 'Walla! News' received additional threats from Ultra-Orthodox representatives, threatening a major consumer boycott … 'Walla! News' decided to remove the interviews from the site on Friday, the 25th of December.”
The Orthodox Jewish community in Israel was extremely upset about the promotional videos which they called, “A surprise move by a major Israeli media source providing significant official Israeli sanction to a missionary organization.”  Others called the campaign to highlight Jesus on mainstream Israeli media, “Shameful behavior of the internet site that gives the Christian (sic Messianic) sect a platform to spread their agenda intended to harm Judaism.”
Advertising missionary activity (which in Israel means Messianic Jews or anyone preaching about Jesus) is prohibited in Israel. A Israeli Broadcasting Association rule states that advertising must not be broadcast if it "includes advertising for missionary activities or cults.”  This law, it should be noted, which was written in 1993,  applies only to commercials and sponsorship on radio or television. Promotional campaigns about Jesus on the internet are still legal.
Avi Alcalay, chief editor for “Walla! News,” explained in an official response to the Messianic promotional that, "Advertising is permitted by the law, and we are a liberal media company with the largest number of internet surfers in Israel. We will always bring the widest range of opinions to our audience.”
Nicely put Mr. Alcalay, but threats of financial loss due to boycotts and legal fees still keep Jesus off the air. Soref claims that, “Just as the first Messianic Jews refused to keep silent about their Messiah two thousand years ago, we do not intend to slow our pace or to silence the public discussion about Yeshua just because of persecution.”
As long as Israeli media companies remain unwilling, or unable, to endure the financial losses, boycotts and threats that Messianic Jewish promotional campaigns still stir up, it is unlikely that Jesus in Messianic promotionals will be making headlines in Israel anytime soon. That is until, as we expect, he soon appears on the Mount of Olives. Now that is going to be news!
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Monday, April 6, 2015

Israel Braces for 'Electronic Holocaust'

Israel Braces for 'Electronic Holocaust'

Monday, April 06, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff
The following is a press release from Israel's Institute for National Security Studies:
For the past several years, on April 7, groups of extremist hackers have targeted Israeli government domains and companies. This year, in Operation-Israel 2015, they are threatening Israeli banks and military websites promising to carry out an “electronic Holocaust.”
The largest hacker group, AnonGhost, which is affiliated with the global hacker group Anonymous, is set to attack Israel for the third straight year. The group ostensibly conducts these cyber-attacks in order to avenge Israeli actions in Gaza. Link to Operation-Israel 2015 video uploaded to YouTube by Anonymous warning of the attack here.
“These groups call themselves anonymous, but in reality the Op-Israel hackers responsible for the actions are mostly from the Middle East, with connections to our local conflict, according to Daniel Cohen, a research associate at the Israel Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Cyber Warfare program. “The hackers are mostly Muslims from Gaza, Syria, Morocco and other countries in our region. As a group they generally oppose the establishment and are influenced by various radical Islamist and terrorist movements, who also drive them towards attacking Israel.”
The hackers usually upload Arabic songs and communicate directly to pro-Israeli visitors.
According to Col. Gabi Siboni, head of the INSS Cyber Security Program, “The terror challenges facing Israel and the West are not only physical, but cyber as well. Israel is confronting these threats from Shiite Hezbollah and from Sunni Hamas on a daily basis. They are sophisticated and becoming more so. There is no question that in due course, the United States and other Western countries will face the same threats as Israel from these groups as well as from ISIS, if they are not already. ISIS is particularly adept at using the world-wide web to further its goals. But it is not only terrorist groups that perpetuate cyber attacks, nations do so as well and the need for cyber-security responses are growing exponentially."
These types of issues and others will be discussed at the US-Israel Defensive Cyberspace Operations & Intelligence (DCOI) conference to be held April 27 – 28 in Washington, DC. The conference is an Israeli - American partnership which seeks to promote informed public debate on cyber-net security and international collaborations in the technological, intelligence and policy-making domains. Link to conference website here.
On April 7, Israel could expect to see attacks on Israeli government websites and various private sites. The attackers may release Israeli credit card details online, although the information will likely be probably be previously stolen and not on the day of the attack. Hackers may also try to attack users through e-mail messages or text messages to private cellular phones. According to Daniel Cohen, about a hundred hackers participated in the previous attacks.
The who support Op-Israel 2015 are capable of penetrating web applications like Drupal, Joomla and WordPress but there are some, albeit small in number within the Operation Israel hacking teams who are capable of performing advanced attacks on specific targets and inflicting real damage, financial and otherwise, said Cohen.
The INSS Cyber program experts suggest that organizations upgrade their servers, perform backups, never open emails from unfamiliar sources and monitor activities on their website. Private citizens should consider changing simple passwords to more complex ones and never open unidentified e-mails.
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