Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

‘Hacktivists’ Occupy Israeli Liquor Website

If you’re trying to buy liquor online in Israel, perhaps hold off for a bit. The website of “The Minister of Drinks,” the largest liquor distributor in Israel, has been hacked by the Sudan Electronic Army. The site now plays an Arabic song about Al-Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem. Lyrics for the song declare: “It is time for death” and criticizes the U.N. security council for “protecting Jews.”

The logo of the Sudan Electronic Army

The incident follows a week of cyber attacks on sites and twitter feeds of news sources including the Associated Press, The Onion and the Guardian by so called “hacktivists” the Syrian Electronic Army. The efforts were planned to be part of a larger coordinated hacking stunt called #OpUSA, or Operation USA, which is aimed at attacking American government websites and banks to protest US foreign policy. Anonymous said the hacking effort, which was unsuccessful, was to be “payback for American crimes. America you have committed multiple war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and recently you have committed war crimes in your own country…For this you shall pay,” according to the Times of Israel.

In early April Anonymous hacked several Israeli websites in #OpIsrael. The attacks had little impact according to security efforts, but the goal was to “wipe Israel off the internet.”

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version