“‘Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?’ declares the Lord.  ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.”  (Jeremiah 23:24)

The hacker-activist group Anonymous has threatened to launch an “electronic holocaust” against Israel on April 7, just nine days before Yom HaShoah (Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day).

An infant rests his or her hand on the tattooed arm of a Holocaust survivor.  The Israeli flag underneath seems to echo the mantra, “Never again.”  (Photo by Karen Gillerman Harel)

A video message from the group “to the foolish Zionist entities,” states, “We are coming back to punish you again for your crimes into Palestinian territories, as we do every year on the 7th of April.”

“All we see is continuous aggression, bombing, killing and kidnapping of the Palestinian people,” the Anonymous video erroneously claims.  “We also see complete silence from other Arab and foreign countries.  Although this is nothing new to us we refuse to stand by idly.”

The North American contingent of Anonymous has a “general lack of cultural and political knowledge as it pertains to causes that are not directly connected to U.S. affairs,” according to global privacy activist Raymond Johansen.  (CSMonitor)

The group has rightly stood against the Islamic State and the attackers behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre with its OpISIS and OpCharlieHebdo campaigns.  Yet, Anonymous’ accusations against Israel are misguided, mistakenly conferring on Israel guilt for supposed abuses against the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority.

“As we did many times, we’ll take down your servers, government websites, Israeli military websites, banks and public institutions,” the video warning said.  “Elite cyber squadrons from around the world will decide to unite in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel as one entity to disrupt and erase Israel from cyberspace.”

Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies also said a group named AnonGhost is launching an April 7 cyber-attack campaign against Israel called OpGaza, a “spontaneous” campaign, as contrasted to the long-planned OpIsrael campaign.  (Arutz 7)

Last year’s attack amounted to “the defacement of websites and sowing fear among Israeli citizens” … not “any strategic attacks on critical infrastructure,” the Institute stated, noting the possibilities of greater damage to Israeli morale than electronic infrastructure.

“All of the Israelis’ ministries are protected by a custom system. … It’s mostly safe at this point.  The last attack only shut down one vulnerable site for a few minutes,” the Institute stated.

Anonymous hactivists often appear in public wearing stylized Guy Fawkes masks to protect their anonymity.  (Photo by Brian Klug)

Meanwhile, Iran has also invested 12-fold into its electronic networks, transforming Iran’s cyber presence from a D-grade threat to one on the level of Russia and China, according to cyber-security expert David Kennedy.  (Business Insider)

“Iran’s cyber capabilities will be more troubling than its nuclear program,” tweeted geopolitical voice Ian Bremmer.  Probably helped by Iranian ally, Russia, Iran’s cyber goals are not to seek a competitive advantage or monetary gain as Russian and Chinese hackers do.

“Iran’s cyber warriors ask themselves one question,” Kennedy said.  “Can I entrench myself in key sensitive areas and take the US down in the event of a conflict?”

Computer network defense, exploitation, and warfare are highly esteemed studies in Iran’s colleges and high schools, with professors initially trained in the US or UK, said Jeff Bardin, cyber-intelligence expert.

“You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”  (Psalm 90:8)