Anonymous claims to hack 55 Israeli websites in annual #OpIsrael
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The computer hacking collective that calls itself Anonymous claimed that it attacked at least 55 Israeli websites on Thursday, including some belonging to the government, the Knesset, and the Israel Defense Forces.
The hackers publicized the addresses of the websites, but Israeli sources said the addresses were fabricated. Two sites that were attacked were NCP-Israel, which maintains a link between Israel and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), and news website Mako, which was brought down several times while it was promoting the finale of the “Big Brother” reality TV show. Both sites resumed routine activity on Thursday.
As it does every year, Anonymous issued warnings earlier this week that threatened to launch a massive cyber-attack on Israeli websites. The group continues to harass Israel’s network security professionals every year, even though it has so far not been able to launch a truly successful attack.
The annual attack, nicknamed OpIsrael, tries to target websites, databases, and internal networks belonging to the government, the IDF, banks, universities, newspapers, large and small businesses, and individual private Internet users.
Anonymous’s plans for Thursday included a large-scale assault launched from various locations around the world, aimed at generating a denial of service for users and overloading Israel’s communications channels, causing them to crash. According to Eli Cohen, head of the Experis Cyber firm, the general assessment was that the assault would fail, but users could experience slower service and unusually heavy Internet traffic for a few days.
The cyber protection unit of the Israeli company Radware, which provides security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers, identified an attack device called Router Hunter 2.0 and instructional videos that were distributed to hackers prior to the attack. The device is designed to break into private routers and take over private Wi-Fi networks.
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Newly operational IDF weapon can fire 18 rockets per minute
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) One year after commencing field testing, the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday declared that a new guided artillery rocket called the Romach (“Spear”) is now operational.
The Israeli military’s Artillery Corps completed integrating the new system in recent weeks, the IDF said. The GPS-guided rocket is made by Israel Military Industries (IMI) and will be used with the Artillery Corps’s M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), which have already been modified so that they can launch the new munition.
The Romach has a reported range of 35 kilometers (22 miles) and a 20-kilogram (44-pound) warhead, and is accurate to within 10 meters (33 feet) of its target. One officer involved in the Romach project said, “In contrast to the MLRS, with the Romach we increased the number of rockets in each launcher from 12 to 18, and all the rockets can be fired within a minute.”
Eli Reiter, head of IMI’s Rocket Systems Division, told IHS Jane’s 360 in January that the Romach, which can be launched at pre-programmed coordinates within seconds of an order being given, would provide the IDF with the ability to rapidly and accurately strike enemy targets.
“If a sector experiences a security escalation, this firepower can be called upon more rapidly compared with scrambling combat helicopters and they are more accurate than artillery cannons,” Reiter said.
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First-of-its-kind nuclear imaging machine installed at Israel’s Rambam Hospital
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli patients will be the first in the world to enjoy a first-of-its-kind hybrid imaging scanner, which was installed at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital this week.
The nuclear imaging machine allows doctors to map tissues and bones and can identify diseases and developments, including cancer, heart and kidney diseases, broken bones, and infections.
“This technology marks a real breakthrough in the field of imaging,” said Professor Zohar Keidar, deputy director of the Nuclear Medicine Department at Rambam.
With the new hybrid imaging system, according to Keidar, “patients will undergo much more precise and quick examinations, while being exposed to far less radiation.”
Additionally, Rambam expects the shortened examination time to allow more patients per day to be tested, and in far greater comfort. The machine, which incorporates a variety of sophisticated imaging and X-ray technologies, was developed in part at the General Electric Global Research Center in Tirat Carmel in northern Israel. The machine underwent several successful tests at Rambam, and has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Israeli defense minister: hundreds of jihadists planning attacks in Europe
(JNS.org) Hundreds of jihadists are “planning to strike Western targets on European soil,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told his counterpart Antoni Macierewicz, Poland’s minister of national defense.
“We are concerned that what we saw in Paris [in November 2015] and Brussels [in March 2016] is just the start, and that attempts to carry out terror attacks in Europe will continue,” Ya’alon said.
Ya’alon hosted Macierewicz on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, with the two ministers discussing terrorism in Europe, the Syrian civil war, and other Middle East issues.
“We do not expect there to be stability and an end to the bloodshed in Syria anytime soon,” Ya’alon said. “In the war there, there are many conflicting interests and too many players in the arena. Some of these players, the global jihad organizations for example, are determined to continue fighting.”
Ya’alon added that Israel and Poland should strengthen their defense ties.
“Defense cooperation benefits both countries,” he said. “Unfortunately, Israel is very experienced in dealing with these challenges, both in in their conventional and terrorist perspectives, rockets, and more. We are prepared to cooperate and share knowledge and technology.”
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Israel’s global defense export market reaches $5.7 billion, attains ‘stability’
(JNS.org) Israel exported $5.7 billion worth of defense products around the world in 2015, the Israeli Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
“We are proud of the Israeli defense industry for its achievements in the global defense export market. After a challenging year, we succeeded, through joint and determined work, to maintain stability in the scope of signed contracts,” said Michael Ben-Baruch, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s “Sibat” department for defense exports.
The Defense Ministry signed dozens of contracts that helped stabilize “the scope of defense exports,” according to Sibat.
Israel’s defense products are “suited to the changing security reality around the world: asymmetric warfare, the rise of precision weaponry, the use of quality intelligence collection in real-time, and minimizing harm to noncombatants,” Sibat added.
As a country, Israel is one of the world’s top 10 defense exporters.
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Report claims Romania investigating 4 Israelis for spying
(JNS.org) A Romanian investigative journalism team is reporting that four Israelis, including two former Mossad agents, are being investigated in the country for spying on its chief anti-corruption prosecutor.
The two former Mossad agents are Dan Zorella and Avi Yanus, who are co-founders and directors of the private Israeli investigation firm Black Cube, journalists from an initiative called the “Rise Project” reported. Two employees of Black Cube, Ron Weiner and David Geclowicz, have been arrested in Romania on suspicion of carrying out cyber-attacks on the Romanian government’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi.
Black Cube said in a statement, ”Recently, the company undertook a project in Romania to collect evidence of serious corruption in the Romanian government and its agencies. Whilst performing this work, two of the company’s employees were arrested after having made significant discoveries.”
“Needless to say, all of Black Cube’s employees follow local law to the letter, and the allegations against them are unfounded and untrue. We have total confidence that the truth will be revealed, and they will both be released safely to return home in the coming days,” the statement added, the Times of Israel reported.
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Helen Mirren to host ‘Jewish Nobel Prize’ ceremony in Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Academy Award-winning British actress Helen Mirren will host this year’s Genesis Prize ceremony in Jerusalem. The prize has been nicknamed the “Jewish Nobel Prize.”
Mirren said she is “honored and humbled” about hosting the event.
“My connection to Israel and the Jewish people has truly been a part of making me what I am today, and I am very excited to be returning to this great country,” she said.
Mirren is not Jewish, but has visited Israel many times and volunteered on a kibbutz in 1967. She has also campaigned against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement activists who have called for boycotts against Israeli artists. Among her numerous film roles, Mirren has played an ex-Israeli Mossad agent in The Debt. In Woman in Gold, Mirren played a Holocaust survivor who sues the Austrian government for the return of a painting stolen from her family by the Nazis.
Genesis Prize Foundation Chairman Stan Polovets called Mirren “an outspoken supporter of Israel.”
“We look forward to the elegance and grace she will bring to the ceremony,” Polovets said in a statement.
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Israeli Knesset member under fire over Jewish-Arab segregation tweet
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Member of Knesset Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) sparked a political firestorm on Tuesday after touting alleged segregation between Jewish and Arab women in Israeli maternity wards.
“My wife is not racist, but after giving birth she wants to rest, not suffer through the parties customarily held by Arab families,” he tweeted. He also posted, “This isn’t just about convenience. Jews and Arabs have been fighting over this country for a hundred years. It’s only natural that my wife doesn’t want to be in a bed next to someone who just had a baby that 20 years from now, might want to kill her baby.”
Smotrich’s remarks were compounded by an Israel Radio report suggesting that Hadassah’s Mount Scopus and Ein Kerem hospitals in Jerusalem, Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba were separating Jewish and Arab women in their maternity wards, in clear violation of Israeli Health Ministry directives. All of the hospitals in question insisted that such separation occurred randomly, and not as a matter of policy.
Smotrich’s tweets garnered condemnation from across the Israeli political spectrum.
“Beloved is man as he is created in the image [of God]. Any man, be he Jewish or Arab,” Jewish Home party leader and Education Minister Naftali Bennett said.
Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said, “A newborn is pure. He knows no hatred. We won’t stand for hospitals separating Jewish and Arab women in maternity wards. We will not tolerate despicable segregation between human beings.”
Yesh Atid lawmaker MK Yael German said Smotrich’s remarks were “part of a delegitimization campaign against Israeli Arabs.”
Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir noted, “Smotrich is the kind of man you see all over the world. Give them a group—any group—to join and they will pollute it with blind hatred and racism.”
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