But, let’s be clear. They did not disrupt trading at the exchange nor flights on the airline. In other words, they simply crashed the cosmetic homepages of those entities.

This is somewhat akin to claiming credit for attacking a person’s home, only for it to be discovered later that you ripped the numbers off the mailbox.

Earlier this month, the group claimed they had gotten almost half a million Israeli credit card numbers. Israeli authorities said that it was more like 21,000 numbers. There is some debate as to whether those numbers were genuine.

Last week an Israeli retaliated by posting information about hundreds of Saudis, Egyptians, Syrians, etc. This hacker claimed to be a “soldier in an Israeli intelligence unit”.

If most of this sounds all too adolescent, it could well be. The release of some credit card information may have caused inconvenience, but no cardholder would be held responsible for that kind of theft. These stunts sound a lot like teens or college students trolling around for low-security sites to scrape credit card info from, if they don’t make the numbers up entirely. Then, they make forum postings filled with racist and warmongering invective.

The former head of Internet security for the Israeli government said, “Right now, we’re not seeing anything that’s especially interesting or especially dangerous.”

On March 23rd Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, wrote a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg calling for the removal of the page.  The page called for a specific date for an uprising to begin against the State of Israel – May 15th, 2011.  The page was also full of comments and videos calling for the killing of Jews and the liberation of Jerusalem through violence, according to Edelstein.  From his letter:

I turn to you with the request that you order the immediate removal of this Facebook page. I write to you not only in my capacity as Israel’s Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs who is charged with monitoring and combating anti-Semitism, but as someone who believes in the values of free speech, and knows that there is a difference between freedom of expression and incitement.

Last Friday, the Anti-Defamation League added their two cents in a press release targeted at Facebook.  They said the page was promoting terrorism through technology.  Here’s more:

“This Facebook page constitutes an appalling abuse of technology to promote terrorist violence,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  “Although the managers of this group claim to be calling for peaceful demonstrations, the Third Intifada pages include calls for followers to build on the previous two intifadas. We should not be so nave to believe that a campaign for a ‘Third Intifada’ does not portend renewed violence, especially in the current climate that has seen a dramatic increase in rocket attacks from Gaza, the brutal murder of the Fogel family in the West Bank, and a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem.”

The ADL also lamented the refusal of Facebook to take down the page, saying “We are especially disappointed in this case because in the past there has often been understanding and sensitivity from Facebook when we have brought violations of its own rules to its attention. We urge Facebook to reconsider its decision and remove this site, which by its very title incites violence.”

After growing in fans from 280,000 to over 340,000 since Edelstein’s letter, Facebook removed the page.  In explaining their decision to CNET, Facebook echoed Edelstein’s original distinction between free speech and incitement:

“[We] believe that people on Facebook should be able to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content that speaks out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas. However, we monitor Pages that are reported to us and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate–as occurred in this case–we have and will continue to take them down.”

A simple search of Facebook finds another group with the exact same name has started up to take the place of the removed group.  It currently has 692 fans.

The Consulate’s tweets focus on Israel’s “war on terrorism,” and various (non-Al-Jazeera) news reports and commentary. One tweet says Palestinians not in support of Hamas are handing over intelligence to Israeli officials.

Another Israeli Twitter account is manned by volunteers inside Israel and the crew there tweets about Israeli casualties and civilians hit by Hamas rockets. In much the same way Americans view their soldiers as patriotic humanitarians, the fromisrael Twitter group posts photographs of Israeli soldiers being kind to children, kittens, and elderly Palestinians.

In addition to an Israeli Defense Force channel on YouTube and a website called HelpUsWin.org detailing all the social network accounts that have been set up on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, and del.icio.us, Israeli supporters have also set up a group on Facebook and a corresponding Twitter account called Qassamcount. These keep a running tally of Hamas-fired rockets crossing over into Israel.
 

Hat tip to Robert Scoble.

Telecommunications firm Paltel has agreed to restrict Internet users access to adult Web sites, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Communications.  "The aim of the move is to protect the Palestinian community from cultural pollution and to protect the young generations from the misuse of the Internet through viewing pornographic sites," Hamas government spokesman Taher al-Nono said.

Going against Hamas’s claims, the blocking of the Web sites was not done in cooperation with Paltel but by the threat of force. "We have no information about this whatsoever," one of the company’s senior officials told Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv. "We did not sign any agreement. As far as we are concerned, there is only one
Communications and Information Technology Ministry; it is located in Ramallah and is part of Salam Fayyad’s government."

Palestinian security forces said the decision to block web sites was forced on Paltel’s representatives in the Gaza Strip. "The Hamas government arrested senior directors in Gaza and threatened them so as to force them to cooperate," a defense source in Ramallah has reported.

The move to block adult Web sites was initiated by Yusuf al-Mansi, the minister of communication and information technology in the Hamas government. "We place the entire national and moral responsibility on Paltel’s shoulders," warned Minister al-Mansi. "It will be held responsible for anything that happens to it as a result of its non- compliance."
 

Reporters Without Borders ranks Palestine at 158 on its press freedom index for 2007 out of 169 countries.

Facebook users living in Maale Adumim, Ariel and other Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank protested when the site automatically listed their hometowns as being in "Palestine." Settlers have accused Facebook of having a political agenda.

"I was surprised and disappointed to find that my hometown of Ariel is listed in Facebook as being part of a country called ‘Palestine,’" wrote Ari Zimmerman in a posting on Facebook Reuters reported. "I am a citizen of Israel, as are all of the other residents of Ariel. We do not live in ‘Palestine’, nor does anyone else.

Brandee Barker, Facebook’s director of communications said users living in the major settlements can choose being listed as residents of Israel or Palestine. "Facebook users in the Israeli West Bank settlements of Maale Adumim, Beitar Illit, and Ariel can now choose between Israel and Palestine," Barker said.

Barker said around 18 West Bank settlements are currently listed on Facebook and that more would be added in the future, allowing users to choose Israel or Palestine as their place of residence.