Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West
________________________________________
Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
February 22, 2016
The Israeli government is planning to pour $26 million this year alone into
a covert cyber operation to attack and sabotage the global human rights
movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), earmarking large sums
for technology companies to spy on Muslim activists in the United States and
Europe.
The initiative was reported [3] last week by Associated Press journalist
Daniel Estrin, who told AlterNet he was personally invited to cover a
private cyber technology forum for Israeli developers last month.
BDS is an international movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction
Israel until it abides by international legal conventions. Sparked by
Palestinian civil society organizations' call [4] in 2005 for global tactics
similar to those levied to topple apartheid in South Africa, BDS has
attracted international support [5] from artists, scholars, students, and
human rights campaigners. The Boycott National Committee recently argued [5]
that the massive resources that Israel is devoting to countering the
movement shows that "our 'soft' power is having a real impact," and with
good reason: Even presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has publicly
attacked BDS and pledged to fight it. [6]
Estrin's reporting on the costly initiative to counter the growing movement
included in this year's Israeli government budget is hazy on details. He
describes a scheme hatched by "some of Israel's top secret-keepers,
including Sima Shine, a former top official in the Mossad spy agency, and
Vaknin-Gil, who recently retired as the chief military censor responsible
for gag orders on state secrets." Israel's Ministry for Strategic Affairs
and Public Diplomacy, which Vaknin-Gil now heads, as well as its Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, are involved in the effort.
Among the orchestrators of the anti-BDS spying initiative is Elad Ratson, a
Ministry of Foreign Affairs official not exactly known for his diplomatic
style. Ratson has been given to outbursts on social media, including
threatening imagery of a bomb attack [7] sent to at least one French website
that has battled Islamophobia.
According to Estrin's report in AP, Ratson identified Muslim social media
users on foreign soil as key targets of the spying plan:
Many online activists driving anti-Israeli campaigns on social media are
tech-savvy, second- and third-generation Muslims in Europe and the U.S. who
have grievances against the West and also lead online campaigns against
European and U.S. governments, said Elad Ratson, who tracks the issue for
Israel's Foreign Ministry and spoke at last month's cybersecurity forum.
He said they often create code that allows activists to blast thousands of
messages from social media accounts - creating the illusion that many
protesters are sharing the same anti-Israel or anti-West message online.
Reached by email, the AP's Estrin said the covert Israeli plan to sabotage
BDS was unveiled at a conference at which "other journalists were also
present," but declined to answer whether it was open to all members of the
press. He referred many of AlterNet's questions to Ratson, whom he described
as "a nice guy."
Ratson did not immediately respond to a question submitted over social media
about who exactly will fall under the spying dragnet and for what reasons.
Amid a time of heightened alert for Muslims in Europe and the US, the
Israeli plan is already raising alarm. "These efforts are a cynical attempt
by Israel to exploit the anti-Muslim environment in the United States to
further its widespread agenda to silence criticism of Israel, on whatever
platform it appears," Rahul Saksena, staff attorney for advocacy
organization Palestine Legal, told AlterNet. "We have already seen students,
and Muslim students in particular, targeted by Israel advocacy groups for
exercising their legal right to advocate for Palestinian human rights. This
initiative will be sure to heighten the surveillance regime against them in
chilling ways."
Estrin, for his part, did not raise civil rights concerns in his article
over the targeting of Muslims. What's more, the reporter invoked the spectre
of the "Islamic State" seemingly out of the blue, conflating the global
terror organization with Muslims who criticize Western foreign policy.
Estrin wrote in the article:
Ratson said social media giants are beginning to close inciting users'
accounts. Twitter said in a statement this month that since mid-2015, it has
closed more than 125,000 accounts that were "threatening or promoting
terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS," the Islamic State group. But he
said Islamist activists are simply moving to "Darknet" sites not visible on
the open internet.
However flawed his framing might have been, Estrin's reporting makes one
thing clear: The Israeli crackdown is poised to escalate its campaign to
unprecedented levels. An unknown number of Israeli tech companies are
threatening to unleash a wave of cyber-attacks, including "sly algorithms to
restrict these online activists' circle of influence" as well as "forensic
intelligence gathering, such as detecting digital or semantic signatures
buried in activists' coding so they are able to track and restrict their
online activity."
Those acts of sabotage will take place alongside a flood of "content that
puts a positive face on Israel."
The non-profit Firewall Israel, sponsored by a government-linked think tank
known as the Reut Institute, is "building an online platform to help
pro-Israel activists around the world communicate about anti-Israel activism
in their communities," the article states.
As journalist Ali Abunimah pointed out [8] in 2010, the Reut institute
aggressively pressed the Israeli government six years ago to embrace a
strategy of sabotaging what it referred to as the "Delegitimation Network,"
which is "made up of the broad, decentralized and informal movement of peace
and justice, human rights, and BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions)
activists all over the world." According to the think tank's argument,
paraphrased by Abunimah, "Its manifestations include protests against
Israeli officials visiting universities, Israeli Apartheid Week, faith-based
and trade union-based activism, and 'lawfare' - the use of universal
jurisdiction to bring legal accountability for alleged Israeli war
criminals."
Reut materials [9] from as recently as June of 2015 show that the think tank
is calling for surveillance of Muslim communities specifically. The
institute says that the "delegitimization of Israel" has been "primarily
driven by the so-called 'red-green alliance' between the radical left-wing
and Muslim groups, which has been effectively building coalitions with
mainstream groups." Disturbingly, Reut goes on to argue that the very
presence of Muslims in Europe poses a demographic threat to Israel, writing
that "in Europe, the demographic rise of the Muslim community is
transforming the public sphere against Israel and the Jews."
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, Sarah co-edited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [10].
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [11]
[12]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-announces-26-million-cyber-a
ttack-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-movement
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:0601a79f13e041b9b5b312ec73063c98
[4] http://bdsmovement.net/BNC
[5] http://bdsmovement.net/2015/7-ways-our-movement-broke-new-ground-13634
[6]
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158218-hillary-clintons-letter-to-h
aim-saban-against-bds.html
[7] https://twitter.com/alkanz/status/571440498558279683
[8]
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-new-strategy-sabotage-and-att
ack-global-justice-movement/8683
[9] http://reut-institute.org/en/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=4224
[10] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[11] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Israel Announces $26
Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement and
Muslims in the West
[12] http://www.alternet.org/
[13] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West
Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
February 22, 2016
The Israeli government is planning to pour $26 million this year alone into
a covert cyber operation to attack and sabotage the global human rights
movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), earmarking large sums
for technology companies to spy on Muslim activists in the United States and
Europe.
The initiative was reported [3] last week by Associated Press journalist
Daniel Estrin, who told AlterNet he was personally invited to cover a
private cyber technology forum for Israeli developers last month.
BDS is an international movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction
Israel until it abides by international legal conventions. Sparked by
Palestinian civil society organizations' call [4] in 2005 for global tactics
similar to those levied to topple apartheid in South Africa, BDS has
attracted international support [5] from artists, scholars, students, and
human rights campaigners. The Boycott National Committee recently argued [5]
that the massive resources that Israel is devoting to countering the
movement shows that "our 'soft' power is having a real impact," and with
good reason: Even presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has publicly
attacked BDS and pledged to fight it. [6]
Estrin's reporting on the costly initiative to counter the growing movement
included in this year's Israeli government budget is hazy on details. He
describes a scheme hatched by "some of Israel's top secret-keepers,
including Sima Shine, a former top official in the Mossad spy agency, and
Vaknin-Gil, who recently retired as the chief military censor responsible
for gag orders on state secrets." Israel's Ministry for Strategic Affairs
and Public Diplomacy, which Vaknin-Gil now heads, as well as its Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, are involved in the effort.
Among the orchestrators of the anti-BDS spying initiative is Elad Ratson, a
Ministry of Foreign Affairs official not exactly known for his diplomatic
style. Ratson has been given to outbursts on social media, including
threatening imagery of a bomb attack [7] sent to at least one French website
that has battled Islamophobia.
According to Estrin's report in AP, Ratson identified Muslim social media
users on foreign soil as key targets of the spying plan:
Many online activists driving anti-Israeli campaigns on social media are
tech-savvy, second- and third-generation Muslims in Europe and the U.S. who
have grievances against the West and also lead online campaigns against
European and U.S. governments, said Elad Ratson, who tracks the issue for
Israel's Foreign Ministry and spoke at last month's cybersecurity forum.
He said they often create code that allows activists to blast thousands of
messages from social media accounts - creating the illusion that many
protesters are sharing the same anti-Israel or anti-West message online.
Reached by email, the AP's Estrin said the covert Israeli plan to sabotage
BDS was unveiled at a conference at which "other journalists were also
present," but declined to answer whether it was open to all members of the
press. He referred many of AlterNet's questions to Ratson, whom he described
as "a nice guy."
Ratson did not immediately respond to a question submitted over social media
about who exactly will fall under the spying dragnet and for what reasons.
Amid a time of heightened alert for Muslims in Europe and the US, the
Israeli plan is already raising alarm. "These efforts are a cynical attempt
by Israel to exploit the anti-Muslim environment in the United States to
further its widespread agenda to silence criticism of Israel, on whatever
platform it appears," Rahul Saksena, staff attorney for advocacy
organization Palestine Legal, told AlterNet. "We have already seen students,
and Muslim students in particular, targeted by Israel advocacy groups for
exercising their legal right to advocate for Palestinian human rights. This
initiative will be sure to heighten the surveillance regime against them in
chilling ways."
Estrin, for his part, did not raise civil rights concerns in his article
over the targeting of Muslims. What's more, the reporter invoked the spectre
of the "Islamic State" seemingly out of the blue, conflating the global
terror organization with Muslims who criticize Western foreign policy.
Estrin wrote in the article:
Ratson said social media giants are beginning to close inciting users'
accounts. Twitter said in a statement this month that since mid-2015, it has
closed more than 125,000 accounts that were "threatening or promoting
terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS," the Islamic State group. But he
said Islamist activists are simply moving to "Darknet" sites not visible on
the open internet.
However flawed his framing might have been, Estrin's reporting makes one
thing clear: The Israeli crackdown is poised to escalate its campaign to
unprecedented levels. An unknown number of Israeli tech companies are
threatening to unleash a wave of cyber-attacks, including "sly algorithms to
restrict these online activists' circle of influence" as well as "forensic
intelligence gathering, such as detecting digital or semantic signatures
buried in activists' coding so they are able to track and restrict their
online activity."
Those acts of sabotage will take place alongside a flood of "content that
puts a positive face on Israel."
The non-profit Firewall Israel, sponsored by a government-linked think tank
known as the Reut Institute, is "building an online platform to help
pro-Israel activists around the world communicate about anti-Israel activism
in their communities," the article states.
As journalist Ali Abunimah pointed out [8] in 2010, the Reut institute
aggressively pressed the Israeli government six years ago to embrace a
strategy of sabotaging what it referred to as the "Delegitimation Network,"
which is "made up of the broad, decentralized and informal movement of peace
and justice, human rights, and BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions)
activists all over the world." According to the think tank's argument,
paraphrased by Abunimah, "Its manifestations include protests against
Israeli officials visiting universities, Israeli Apartheid Week, faith-based
and trade union-based activism, and 'lawfare' - the use of universal
jurisdiction to bring legal accountability for alleged Israeli war
criminals."
Reut materials [9] from as recently as June of 2015 show that the think tank
is calling for surveillance of Muslim communities specifically. The
institute says that the "delegitimization of Israel" has been "primarily
driven by the so-called 'red-green alliance' between the radical left-wing
and Muslim groups, which has been effectively building coalitions with
mainstream groups." Disturbingly, Reut goes on to argue that the very
presence of Muslims in Europe poses a demographic threat to Israel, writing
that "in Europe, the demographic rise of the Muslim community is
transforming the public sphere against Israel and the Jews."
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, Sarah co-edited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [10].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [11]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[12]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-announces-26-million-cyber-a
ttack-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-movement
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:0601a79f13e041b9b5b312ec73063c98
[4] http://bdsmovement.net/BNC
[5] http://bdsmovement.net/2015/7-ways-our-movement-broke-new-ground-13634
[6]
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158218-hillary-clintons-letter-to-h
aim-saban-against-bds.html
[7] https://twitter.com/alkanz/status/571440498558279683
[8]
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-new-strategy-sabotage-and-att
ack-global-justice-movement/8683
[9] http://reut-institute.org/en/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=4224
[10] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[11] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Israel Announces $26
Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement and
Muslims in the West
[12] http://www.alternet.org/
[13] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West
Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
February 22, 2016
The Israeli government is planning to pour $26 million this year alone into
a covert cyber operation to attack and sabotage the global human rights
movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), earmarking large sums
for technology companies to spy on Muslim activists in the United States and
Europe.
The initiative was reported [3] last week by Associated Press journalist
Daniel Estrin, who told AlterNet he was personally invited to cover a
private cyber technology forum for Israeli developers last month.
BDS is an international movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction
Israel until it abides by international legal conventions. Sparked by
Palestinian civil society organizations' call [4] in 2005 for global tactics
similar to those levied to topple apartheid in South Africa, BDS has
attracted international support [5] from artists, scholars, students, and
human rights campaigners. The Boycott National Committee recently argued [5]
that the massive resources that Israel is devoting to countering the
movement shows that "our 'soft' power is having a real impact," and with
good reason: Even presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has publicly
attacked BDS and pledged to fight it. [6]
Estrin's reporting on the costly initiative to counter the growing movement
included in this year's Israeli government budget is hazy on details. He
describes a scheme hatched by "some of Israel's top secret-keepers,
including Sima Shine, a former top official in the Mossad spy agency, and
Vaknin-Gil, who recently retired as the chief military censor responsible
for gag orders on state secrets." Israel's Ministry for Strategic Affairs
and Public Diplomacy, which Vaknin-Gil now heads, as well as its Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, are involved in the effort.
Among the orchestrators of the anti-BDS spying initiative is Elad Ratson, a
Ministry of Foreign Affairs official not exactly known for his diplomatic
style. Ratson has been given to outbursts on social media, including
threatening imagery of a bomb attack [7] sent to at least one French website
that has battled Islamophobia.
According to Estrin's report in AP, Ratson identified Muslim social media
users on foreign soil as key targets of the spying plan:
Many online activists driving anti-Israeli campaigns on social media are
tech-savvy, second- and third-generation Muslims in Europe and the U.S. who
have grievances against the West and also lead online campaigns against
European and U.S. governments, said Elad Ratson, who tracks the issue for
Israel's Foreign Ministry and spoke at last month's cybersecurity forum.
He said they often create code that allows activists to blast thousands of
messages from social media accounts - creating the illusion that many
protesters are sharing the same anti-Israel or anti-West message online.
Reached by email, the AP's Estrin said the covert Israeli plan to sabotage
BDS was unveiled at a conference at which "other journalists were also
present," but declined to answer whether it was open to all members of the
press. He referred many of AlterNet's questions to Ratson, whom he described
as "a nice guy."
Ratson did not immediately respond to a question submitted over social media
about who exactly will fall under the spying dragnet and for what reasons.
Amid a time of heightened alert for Muslims in Europe and the US, the
Israeli plan is already raising alarm. "These efforts are a cynical attempt
by Israel to exploit the anti-Muslim environment in the United States to
further its widespread agenda to silence criticism of Israel, on whatever
platform it appears," Rahul Saksena, staff attorney for advocacy
organization Palestine Legal, told AlterNet. "We have already seen students,
and Muslim students in particular, targeted by Israel advocacy groups for
exercising their legal right to advocate for Palestinian human rights. This
initiative will be sure to heighten the surveillance regime against them in
chilling ways."
Estrin, for his part, did not raise civil rights concerns in his article
over the targeting of Muslims. What's more, the reporter invoked the spectre
of the "Islamic State" seemingly out of the blue, conflating the global
terror organization with Muslims who criticize Western foreign policy.
Estrin wrote in the article:
Ratson said social media giants are beginning to close inciting users'
accounts. Twitter said in a statement this month that since mid-2015, it has
closed more than 125,000 accounts that were "threatening or promoting
terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS," the Islamic State group. But he
said Islamist activists are simply moving to "Darknet" sites not visible on
the open internet.
However flawed his framing might have been, Estrin's reporting makes one
thing clear: The Israeli crackdown is poised to escalate its campaign to
unprecedented levels. An unknown number of Israeli tech companies are
threatening to unleash a wave of cyber-attacks, including "sly algorithms to
restrict these online activists' circle of influence" as well as "forensic
intelligence gathering, such as detecting digital or semantic signatures
buried in activists' coding so they are able to track and restrict their
online activity."
Those acts of sabotage will take place alongside a flood of "content that
puts a positive face on Israel."
The non-profit Firewall Israel, sponsored by a government-linked think tank
known as the Reut Institute, is "building an online platform to help
pro-Israel activists around the world communicate about anti-Israel activism
in their communities," the article states.
As journalist Ali Abunimah pointed out [8] in 2010, the Reut institute
aggressively pressed the Israeli government six years ago to embrace a
strategy of sabotaging what it referred to as the "Delegitimation Network,"
which is "made up of the broad, decentralized and informal movement of peace
and justice, human rights, and BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions)
activists all over the world." According to the think tank's argument,
paraphrased by Abunimah, "Its manifestations include protests against
Israeli officials visiting universities, Israeli Apartheid Week, faith-based
and trade union-based activism, and 'lawfare' - the use of universal
jurisdiction to bring legal accountability for alleged Israeli war
criminals."
Reut materials [9] from as recently as June of 2015 show that the think tank
is calling for surveillance of Muslim communities specifically. The
institute says that the "delegitimization of Israel" has been "primarily
driven by the so-called 'red-green alliance' between the radical left-wing
and Muslim groups, which has been effectively building coalitions with
mainstream groups." Disturbingly, Reut goes on to argue that the very
presence of Muslims in Europe poses a demographic threat to Israel, writing
that "in Europe, the demographic rise of the Muslim community is
transforming the public sphere against Israel and the Jews."
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, Sarah co-edited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [10].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [11]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[12]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-announces-26-million-cyber-a
ttack-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-movement
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:0601a79f13e041b9b5b312ec73063c98
[4] http://bdsmovement.net/BNC
[5] http://bdsmovement.net/2015/7-ways-our-movement-broke-new-ground-13634
[6]
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158218-hillary-clintons-letter-to-h
aim-saban-against-bds.html
[7] https://twitter.com/alkanz/status/571440498558279683
[8]
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-new-strategy-sabotage-and-att
ack-global-justice-movement/8683
[9] http://reut-institute.org/en/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=4224
[10] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[11] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Israel Announces $26
Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement and
Muslims in the West
[12] http://www.alternet.org/
[13] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
