Operation Israel — Twitter screenshot of RedHack and Anonymous accounts posting OpIsrael leaks

Operation Israel

2012eventdead

Published September 19, 2026

Operation Israel, also known as #OpIsrael, is an Anonymous hacktivist campaign launched in November 2012 to protest the Israel Defense Forces' Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza. Hackers hit Israeli government sites with DDoS attacks and defacements, reportedly knocking hundreds of pages offline and turning the Gaza conflict into one of the first major real-time cyber battles fought alongside a shooting war.

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Overview

Operation Israel, also written as #OpIsrael, is a loose Anonymous-branded hacktivist operation that pairs a press-release video, a #OpIsrael hashtag, and coordinated DDoS attacks and site defacements against Israeli government, military, and financial targets1. Rather than a single group, it works as an open call any hacker can join, with participants posting damage claims and defaced URLs to Pastebin and Twitter using the shared tag2.

Alongside the offensive side, organizers pushed a defensive angle for Gaza residents: a bilingual English and Arabic "care package" bundling a press release, first-aid instructions, an IP-hiding proxy, and instructions for getting online if Israel cut Gaza's internet access3. That mix of DDoS activism plus civilian survival kit set the tone that later #OpIsrael waves in 2013 tried to copy4.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube / Anon Relations blog (viral spread on Twitter)
Creator
Anonymous
Date
2012

The catalyst was Operation Pillar of Defense, launched on November 14, 2012, when an IDF airstrike killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari and both sides began live-tweeting the escalation3. The next day, November 15, 2012, the Anonymous-affiliated blog Anon Relations posted a communique accusing Israel's government of threatening to shut off Gaza's internet and calling for attacks on the country's most important websites in retaliation3.

A narrated video version of the press release was uploaded to YouTube by user Gigabytedrop and quickly seeded across Anonymous social accounts, with Breitbart covering the launch on November 16, 20121. A dedicated @Op_Israel Twitter account and a #OpIsrael Facebook page went up the same day to coordinate targets and share defaced URLs3.

How It Spread

The campaign moved fast on Pastebin and Twitter. On November 15, 2012, an Anonymous Grupo Pastebin dump listed more than 650 defaced Israeli web addresses, and a second Pastebin collected proxies, medical info, livestream links, and dial-up numbers aimed at Gaza3. Over the following days, reports counted as many as 700 Israeli sites temporarily knocked offline or defaced, including the Bank of Jerusalem, the Israeli Defense Ministry, and the President's official page3.

On November 18, 2012, Anonymous claimed to have leaked personal information for more than 5,000 Israeli officials, though the linked file was already dead by the next day3. Israel's Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz answered on November 19, 2012, saying the government had blocked more than 44 million cyber attacks on state websites during the fighting3. Early individual hits were tracked in real time by Anonymous-linked accounts posting things like "awmossad.gov.il no worky. #OpIsrael #TangoDown" as sites went down3.

The #OpIsrael brand outlived Pillar of Defense. In March 2013, hacking crews from Morocco, Pakistan, and elsewhere announced a united follow-up wave, boasting about past hits on Israeli banks and 150,000 Facebook accounts and framing the operation as solidarity with the newly recognized Palestinian state2. Similar annual reruns kept the tag alive for years afterward, though none matched the original November 2012 burst1.

Timeline

2012-11-14

IDF launches Operation Pillar of Defense and kills Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari in an airstrike, triggering Anonymous' response.

2012-11-15

Anon Relations blog posts the #OpIsrael communique and 'care package'; a Pastebin file lists 650+ defaced Israeli web addresses.

2012-11-16

Gigabytedrop's narrated YouTube video and the @Op_Israel Twitter account push the campaign; Breitbart reports on the launch.

2012-11-18

Anonymous claims to leak personal information for more than 5,000 Israeli officials.

2012-11-19

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz says the government blocked more than 44 million cyber attacks on state websites.

2013-03

International hacker crews announce a united #OpIsrael follow-up wave in solidarity with Palestine.

Frequently Asked Questions