Not Russia, But Israel: major political hacking and disinformation group exposed

[TSherbs]

Guardian: Hacker Group revealed

Would love to see their client list, no?

You KNOW that this must be going on everywhere, constantly. Stay vigilant, friends....Maybe even this article is a fake plant....

[Chip]

In view of the NSO/Pegasus scandals and Netanyahu's attempt to make Israel a right-wing theocracy, this makes me question the longtime US alliance.

Are Israeli hackers any less criminal than those in China or Russia?

[TSherbs]

And this is the role of the press: get in there and shed light on the muck.

Yes, just as illegal (IMO). But I don't really know the law around this. It's a brave new world that hath such hideous creatures in it.

[Chip]

Tech Leaders in Israel Wonder if It’s Time to Leave

Ahead of a judicial overhaul that could transform the country and frighten away investors, the executives of Start-Up Nation are mulling an exodus.

By David Segal
Reporting from Tel Aviv
Feb. 23, 2023

For years, budding Israeli tech executives have asked Yanki Margalit, a veteran entrepreneur, where they should start their fledgling companies. For years, he’s offered the same advice: Here, in Israel, where software engineers are plentiful, international investors are eager and friends and family live.

But as Mr. Margalit prepares a new venture of his own, one focused on combating climate change, he has reluctantly concluded that Israel is the wrong place to launch.

“Given the atmosphere now, it’s almost irresponsible to start a company here,” the 60-year-old said, “and that is heartbreaking.”

The luminaries of Start-Up Nation, as Israel has been known for decades, are eyeing the exits. Several have already announced that they are relocating or moving money out of the country, including the chief executive of Papaya Group, a payroll company valued at more than $1 billion.

The reason is that a right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recently announced plans for a sweeping overhaul to the country’s judiciary that many believe will end its 75-year run as an independent institution.

The proposed changes would severely curtail the court’s capacity to strike down laws passed by the Knesset, the country’s Parliament, and give the ruling coalition far greater say in who sits on the bench.

That has prompted so much civil unrest and mass protests that Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, stated in a televised speech last week that the country was “on the brink of constitutional and social collapse.”

More quietly, people like Mr. Margalit are reappraising what it means to operate here and deciding that if the government retools the judiciary, it is time to leave.

“It’s all about risk management and the risk is to the brand that is Israel,” said Assaf Rappaport, the chief executive and co-founder of Wiz, a cloud security company worth $6 billion. “It took a lot of time to build this brand, and today every company in the world can trust Israel as a partner in their cyberdefense. These reforms will put all that in question.”

The office of Israel’s minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, declined to comment. In a mid-February statement, he said claims that the reforms harmed democracy were part of a “scaremongering campaign.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/23/b...e=articleShare