
Anonymous takes down over 550 Israeli sites, wipes databases - krishaamer
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/11/17/anonymous-takes-down-countless-israeli-sites-wipes-databases-leaks-emails-addresses-and-passwords/?utm_source=HackerNews&utm_medium=share%2Bbutton&utm_content=Anonymous%20takes%20down%20over%20550%20Israeli%20sites%2C%20wipes%20databases%2C%20leaks%20emails%20addresses%20and%20passwords&utm_campaign=social%2Bmedia
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kamaal
As an Indian and somebody who studied the non violence moment of Gandhi both
in South Africa and India. I can talk about the nature of political movements,
I studied in quite a great detail. Even in India, the nature of non violence
movement was not completely non violent- Its true that non violence came as a
overwhelming force for the British. But the British did deal and perceive
violent revolutionary sources as a equally big threat. There is always a big
debate in India that Bhagat Singh was an equally big threat to British, as
much as Gandhi. There were and continued to be pockets of violence till the
Indian independence.

Secondly, violent attacks don't often serve any thing more than 'symbolism'.In
this case, there is a century long history, of a persecuted community being
settled on already existing nation. Now persecuted community has its reasons,
but the existing people see why they are being driven out and find no
acceptable reason for that. Add to this, a massive refugee problem, being
forced to live densely crowded areas. No adequate supply of food, water,
medicine, electricity for 50 years now. Sub human sanitation conditions.
Having to endow the humiliation to stop at check points to move around in
their own country, watch their land being endlessly consumed by settlers.
Coupled with this the occupier has, a endless diplomatic, military and
financial support of the biggest super power in human history. The oppressed
can do nothing about it, because the military option isn't even an option.
Diplomatic doors are closed.

If you feel these sort of people to not get frustrated, something is wrong
about your understanding of human emotions.

Its in the human nature to empathize with the oppressed. And in fact this is
the biggest problem with the kind of activity Anonymous has done. Israel isn't
troubled because websites are going down for a couple of hours, they are
troubled that there are people with some power and say in their hands, who
empathize with the Palestinians. This is dangerous, and even fatal for the
Israelis. Far more dangerous than the rockets themselves.

~~~
tkahn6
I appreciate your analysis, but no, the rockets are more fatal and dangerous
than script kiddies hitting "Go" on their LOIC application from the comfort of
their homes, far away from danger. Taking down websites and leaking passwords
is inconsequential juvenility when compared to the hell that Israelis in
S'derot have been living in for years and years and what citizens of Tel Aviv
are experiencing now.

Hamas is a homophobic, misogynistic, illiberal, theocratic terrorist
organization and Anonymous is supporting them.

~~~
kamaal
Yes, that is the reason why I'm suggesting that the Palestinians must show
restraint, despite the frustration. Pursue a total non violent path.

Food, medicine and water is blockaded? sure. Go on a mass hunger strike. Let
the world know about it, inform them about your suffering. I guess that has
already started to some extent too. Forced into a apartheid set up on your
land, forced to go through humiliating check points? March peacefully with
full restraint to the check point. Don't get violent no matter what. Show the
world what's happening there.

This is far better than the rocket attacks.

~~~
aes256
> Food, medicine and water is blockaded? sure. Go on a mass hunger strike. Let
> the world know about it, inform them about your suffering.

Food, medicine and water are not blockaded?

Israel allows enormous amounts of aid to pass into the Gaza Strip on a daily
basis.

~~~
anthonyb
Sure, they let _some_ through - but not enough to support the people there on
anything more than a borderline subsistence level.

[http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/07/mideast-israel-chokes-gaza-
de...](http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/07/mideast-israel-chokes-gaza-despite-
announced-easing/)

~~~
aes256
Is there a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip? No.

Israel provides the residents of the Strip with food, water, electricity,
medical supplies, etc. The residents respond with rockets aimed at Israeli
civilians.

~~~
anthonyb
Well then - I guess there's not much point in arguing with you.

------
aes256
1) These script kiddies are not Anonymous;

2) The majority of the sites affected appear to be hosted with a single
company;

3) If any of the deleted databases held important information, there will be
backups.

Edit: 4) The leaked passwords appear to be site-specific; all are six
characters long, around a third of them are '123456'

~~~
pav3l
>1) These script kiddies are not Anonymous;

I think you may be overestimating "the real Anonymous".

~~~
OriginalSyn
I think you may both be misunderstanding who "Anonymous" is.

------
jgrahamc
This does nothing to help heal the open wound that is the conflict between
Israel and Palestine.

~~~
guelo
Well it's not as if the heavy bombing of a densely populated defenseless area
is healing anything either.

~~~
aes256
Heavy bombing of densely populated areas?

It's rather simple. As a general rule, civilians in the Gaza Strip know if
they are near a target. You don't live next to a rocket manufacturing, storage
or launch site without knowing about it.

The IDF have gone to great pains to warn civilians not to go near these sites,
or to mix with combatants.

They send text messages, drop leaflets, even make phone calls with recorded
messages to the affected areas. They perform 'roof knocks' (using non-lethal
bombs) to warn civilians they are in the vicinity of a target.

The ratio of civilian to combatant deaths in the Gaza Strip is well below that
of any comparable conflict as a result.

~~~
kevingadd
Sites like the UN school Israel fired White Phosphorus into?

[http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/cast-lead-
remem...](http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/cast-lead-remembered-
israel-admits-using-white-phosphorous-in-attacks-on-gaza/)

Give me a break.

~~~
subsystem
There's no need to use such bad/hateful sources. Here are some better ones:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/gaza-war-crimes-
inves...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/gaza-war-crimes-
investigation)
[http://www.hrw.org/publications/reports?topic=All&region...](http://www.hrw.org/publications/reports?topic=All&region=228)
[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsessio...](http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/factfindingmission.htm)

------
gingerlime
Interesting and encouraging to see that most of the discussion here on HN is
about rockets and bombing, casualties and fear, and not so much about the
action.

The anonymous statement however, seems primarily concerned with _internet
disconnection_?! I don't try to underestimate the importance of freedom of
speech, and the internet being an essential source of free information. But
aren't other freedoms - or human rights (like the right to Life -- not living
in terror or fear) even more important to defend?

 _> And today’s insane attack and threatened invasion of Gaza was more of the
same.

> But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet
> and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the
> sand._

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights#Substantive_right...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights#Substantive_rights)

~~~
jlgreco
To be fair to them, cutting the internet could be considered a pretty big
deal, if in your perspective doing so would hinder the dissemination of
information about atrocities being committed.

Is _that_ where the line should be drawn? I personally don't think so, but I
can certainly understand the concern over something that might, in other
contexts, be just the removal of a nice luxury.

------
aneth4
Maybe they were upset about purchasing overpriced Dead Sea cosmetics?

[http://dskang.com/post/35828532133/a-breakdown-of-how-i-
was-...](http://dskang.com/post/35828532133/a-breakdown-of-how-i-was-talked-
out-of-100)

------
Zakharov
I could understand attacking government websites as a protest, but why go
after random civilian sites? They're just associating themselves with the
worst part of the Palestinian resistance that way.

~~~
DanBC
Anonymous has never had a particularly sophisticated political stance.

------
eupharis
I wish I had some strong belief about how one side or the other was right,
some plan to fix everything. But I don't. All I have is sadness.

~~~
sharkweek
I'm with you -- I wish I had some unique insight into their conflict; but the
more I read, the more confused I get

------
jpxxx
"Cyber warfare" sounded so much more exciting when Angelina Jolie was doing it
in a neon catsuit. Sorry about this pathetic future, everyone!

------
eli_gottlieb
Ah. Moralfriends. Because what the Gazans _really_ need is a network uplink to
tell /pol/ and /int/ how much they're being oppressed.

------
aerodog
Anonymous deserves our kudos on this one. It's true that these dbs may have
backups, but as the world just watches, it's nice to see someone at least
trying to put Israel's feet to the fire in the capacity they can.

~~~
tzs
How about putting Hamas' feet to the fire? They have been condemned by human
rights groups for widespread arrests, torture, and killing of their political
opponents in Gaza.

They have simply been terrible for the Palestinian people. Besides suppressing
political opposition, they also purposefully try to launch attacks from
heavily populated civilian areas hoping that the civilians will end up acting
as human shields.

~~~
MichaelSalib
So, Hamas is about average for governments that the US supports?

~~~
tptacek
Why is it so hard to say that one entity is bad without litigating the badness
of every other entity? The military wing of Hamas is bad. They shoot rockets
at civilians, deliberately, presumably in a bid to draw Israel into
unrestrained conflict. They are killing civilians in order to start a war.
That's bad. They're bad. Bad is practically their charter.

Are there worse entities? Sure. Now back to the matter at hand.

~~~
MichaelSalib
I guess I don't see why saying they're bad matter in and of itself.

Of course they're bad.

So what? We give weapons and money to lots of bad governments. Should we do so
with Hamas? Just saying "they're bad!" doesn't really answer any interesting
policy questions.

But hey, if you think foreign policy is about feeling moral superiority by
saying "they're bad!" over and over, please don't let me stop you.

~~~
tptacek
Generally, no. I think we should tend to avoid giving money to organizations
that fire missiles at civilians in order to purposefully start wars. I think
that's a pretty easy line item for our foreign policy rulebook.

------
vaadu
Anonymous better hope they are just that. The Israelis play by their own rules
when it comes to self defense and retaliation.

~~~
idanb
truth

------
doodooo
Well it's nice to see anonymous now supports a terrorist group :Hamas is
considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel, the UK and the
European Union. In the wake of the 2008-2009 Gaza Conflict, in which more than
1,400 people were killed, the United Nations' Goldstone Report found that
rocket attacks by Hamas constituted war crimes, and may have amounted to
crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch has accused Hamas authorities in
Gaza of war crimes, of violating international humanitarian law, and of meting
out cruel and inhuman treatment to detainees.

------
mamby
GREAT! Thanks Anon

------
helgy
Wow, Anonymous taking one side of the conflict and actively helping Hamas
terrorists. So stupid move for them. They are just killing the whole idea.

~~~
f137
Just another proof that they're no more than a bunch of assholes

------
manamol296
I have no specific opinion on Israel attacking Gaza since I don't know the
whole story. But if civilian websites are going to be taken down, then what
security do we have that our websites will not be affected in future!!! We
can't control the decisions our governments make!!

------
anonymous420
well done i like it

