One of Israel’s largest news publications, The Jerusalem Post has been hacked by Iran in what it said was an apparent threat to the country. Instead of displaying a main news page, the website showed an illustration that appeared to recall top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq on this day in 2020.
According to Reuters, The illustration showed a bullet-shaped object shooting out of a red ring worn on a finger, an apparent reference to a distinctive ring Soleimani used to wear. The Jerusalem Post, an English-language daily, tweeted that it was working to resolve the issue.
The Times of Israel stated that the Twitter account of the Maariv newspaper, which has the same owners as the English-language Post, briefly held the same message, but soon took it down. The Post said it was working to restore its site.
“We are aware of the apparent hacking of our website, alongside a direct threat of Israel. We are working to resolve the issue,” the newspaper tweeted, and the site was back online about 2 hours after the hack.
Former US President Donald Trump sent shock waves through the region on January 3, 2020, with the targeted killing of General Soleimani, who was commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operation’s arm of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. The Quds force is designated by the US as a terrorist organization.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad ordered by Trump, along with his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, infuriating Iran and its allies.
