Website of Israeli daily hacked; hackers post the threat to attack Dimona nuclear plant

Jerusalem – Leading Israeli daily was cyberattacked. The hackers threatened to launch an attack on Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant to avenge the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, a senior official of Iran’s Quds Force. A few days ago, a video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards showed 16 Iranian missiles crashing on the Dimona nuclear plant. Therefore, there is a strong suspicion that Iran is behind the cyberattacks on the Israeli dailies and the threats made through them.

On Monday morning, there were cyberattacks on the websites of Israeli daily as well as on social media accounts. In it, hackers defaced the websites of Israeli dailies for a few hours and published provocative images. There was an image of a missile being fired from the ring of Major General Qassem Soleimani. This senior Iranian military official was killed two years ago in a US drone strike. It showed the missile crashing on Israel’s Dimona nuclear power plant. The message in English and Hebrew reads: We are close to you where you do not think about it.

The search for the suspects behind the cyberattacks is on. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. But Israeli media has claimed that a photo posted on the website by the cyber-attackers points the finger at Iran. Last week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards held a five-day exercise. This included the practice of launching short-range and long-range missiles and drone strikes. On the last day of the exercise, the Iranian army demonstrated its capability by firing 16 missiles in succession.

Following the exercise, a video of the missile attack was released by a news channel affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. It showed the missiles followed by drones crashing into a nuclear power plant. There was no mention of the country in the video. But analysts claimed that Iran used the video to signal an attack on Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant. As a photo from the video shown in Monday’s cyberattack, strong suspicions were raised that Iran is behind it.

For the past few days, officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned of an attack on Israel. Senior Iranian military officials have threatened to chop off Israel’s hand if it makes a mistake of launching an attack on Iran. Against this backdrop, the gravity of the cyberattacks on Israeli dailies increases further.