Dubai- Websites of two major Israeli newspapers were hacked on Monday, the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, replacing its content with his message and and an image depicting a missile coming down from a fist bearing his ring on Israel’s Dimona nuclear facility.
The website of The Jerusalem Post showed a scene from an Iranian missile drill last month in which Tehran destroyed a mock-up of Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.
In the picture, the rocket appears to be fired from the iconic ring Soleimani wore, with the caption: “We are close to you where you do not think about it,” in English and Hebrew.
The Twitter account of the Maariv newspaper, which has the same owners as the English-language Post, briefly held the same message, but soon took it down. Maariv said its website was also hacked.
“We are aware of the apparent hacking of our website, alongside a direct threat of Israel. We are working to resolve the issue,” the Post tweeted.
The site was back online about two hours after the hack.
We are aware of the apparent hacking of our website, alongside a direct threat of Israel. We are working to resolve the issue & thank readers for your patience and understanding. For now, you can continue reading us on our app: https://t.co/UrEXIpatDPhttps://t.co/veBDuWgucp
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) January 3, 2022
Former US president Donald Trump sent shock waves through the region on January 3, 2020, with the targeted killing of Soleimani, who was commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operation arm of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad ordered by Trump, along with his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, bringing Middle East on the brink of war.
Trump said at the time that the drone strike came in response to a wave of attacks on US interests in Iraq, warning he would hold Iran responsible if such assaults continued.
Five days after Soleimani’s killing, Iran retaliated by firing volley of missiles at the largesr US military base in Ain al-Assad near Baghdad, and another near Erbil in the north. Hundreds of US soldiers reportedly suffered traumatic brain injuries from the explosions.
Iran is preparing to launch week-long activities to mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s killing. Authorities said the main event of the commemoration would be held on Monday, without elaborating.
They added that a display of “Iran’s missile capabilities” would be held on January 7.
Iranian officials have pledged repeatedly that Soleimani would be avenged.
Last month Iran fired multiple ballistic missiles at the close of five days of military drills that generals said were a warning to Israel. Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces finished the drill by blowing up a target set up to resemble Israel’s Dimona nuclear complex. Iranian TV broadcast images of missiles striking the target structures and issued a threat to Israel.
Images from the strike were used in the Jerusalem Post and Maariv hack.
Iranian and Iran-backed groups have been repeatedly accused of trying to hack Israeli sites in recent months, part of a years-long shadow war between Iran and Israel that has taken place on land, in the air and at sea. It entered the cyber realm years ago, most famously in 2010 when the Stuxnet virus — believed to have been engineered by Israel and the US — infected Iran’s nuclear program, causing a series of breakdowns in centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
The threats come amid troubled talks in Vienna to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has accelerated its nuclear advances as negotiations to return to the accord struggle to make headway.
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