The Jerusalem Post website was hacked by pro-Iranian hackers in the early hours of Monday morning, with a photo of a model Dimona nuclear facility being blown up and the text "we are close to you where you do not think about it" in English and Hebrew placed on the Twitter and website.
The photo also showed a ballistic missile falling from what appears to be a representation of the hand of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Sunday night marked the second anniversary of the US assassination of Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.
The tweet with the photo on Maariv's Twitter account has since been removed, as well as a retweet of an account with the handle @ShiaEagle including an illustration of Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (who was assassinated alongside Soleimani). The @ShiaEagle account, created in the summer of 2021, has since been suspended as well.
From the inspect tool on Google Chrome, it appears the hackers managed to edit the SEO keywords of the Jerusalem Post site to be "Israel, JPost, maariv, il, attack, hack [and] ransomware," during the attack.
It is unclear if the hackers were from Iran or supporters from outside the country or if they were state-sponsored.
This isn't the first time The Post has been targeted by pro-Iranian hackers.
In May 2020, pro-Iranian hackers replaced the site's homepage with an illustration of Tel Aviv burning as then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu swam for a life preserver with the words "Be ready for a big surprise." A number of additional Israeli websites were targeted in the attack then as well.
