A breach in an election app used by the Likud party leaked the personal data of more than six million Israeli voters. Plus, tensions in the West Bank have spiked following the release of Trump’s peace plan.
Twelve IDF soldiers were wounded in a car-ramming and multiple clashes have left at least three Palestinians dead and several Israeli security members injured. On the Gaza border, almost daily rocket and mortar attacks are being met by tank shells and rocket strikes targeting Hamas.
App Used by Netanyahu’s Party Exposes Voter List
The personal data of 6,453,254 Israelis was leaked after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party uploaded the complete Israeli national voter registry to an application used by the party for elections.
The leak, first reported by Ha’aretz, included names, phone numbers, addresses, and social security numbers. Before elections in Israel, political parties are given access to the entire voter list but are required to protect the list and cannot alter, erase, or transfer it. When Likud received the list, they uploaded it to Elector, an application that provides real-time statistics and voter reports during an election.
Upon upload of the list, however, a breach was discovered that allowed the entire database to be accessed and downloaded without using sophisticated techniques. The Jerusalem Post reports that an anonymous source tipped off Ha’aretz about the security flaw and that Ha’aretz then published the information along with how to access the list in addition to passing the report on to the National Cyber Directorate.
Likud claims that they fixed the security breach as soon as they learned of it, and the issue was with an external service provider that provides services for many other parties. The Elector app developer, Feed-b, said the breach was a “one-off incident that was immediately dealt with,” and that they have since strengthened security measures. It has not yet been reported or is not known how many people gained access to the personal data.
The last time a leak of this size happened was intentional in 2006 when an Interior Ministry employee stole the population registry and published it illegally.
Twelve IDF Injured in Car Ramming, Palestinian Killed in West Bank
Twelve Israeli soldiers were wounded last Wednesday in a suspected Palestinian car-ramming attack in Central Jerusalem.
Ha’aretz reports that one twenty-year-old soldier was evacuated while in serious condition and unconscious, and that the other eleven soldiers were all lightly injured. The incident occurred at 1:45 a.m. near Jerusalem’s First Station. The suspected driver fled the scene but was later arrested by security forces.
According to the IDF, the suspect accelerated from behind toward the group of soldiers, members of the Golani brigade, who were walking on the sidewalk on their way to the area of the Western Wall in the Old City.
The attack comes during a time of increased violence and heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in the wake of the release of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Peace to Prosperity peace plan.
The Jerusalem Post reports that in the West Bank, two Palestinians, including a policeman, were killed, allegedly by the IDF, during riots that broke out in the city of Jenin after IDF troops destroyed the home of the terrorist who assassinated Rabbi Raziel Shevach in September 2018. Then, after protests stemming from the funeral of the Palestinian policeman, a Palestinian teenager was reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops on Friday. Near daily clashes between Palestinians and IDF since the release of the peace plan have left dozens wounded in more widespread clashes across the West Bank, according to the Times of Israel. IDF troops have come under sniper fire several times, and several security members have been lightly wounded in the clashes.
The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups praised the attacks on Israelis and called on more Palestinians to step up confrontations with Israel.
Israel Strikes Gaza after Hamas Rocket Attack
After a week and a half of nearly daily rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the Israeli Airforce struck several Hamas targets in the Strip.
The Times of Israel reports that IDF aircraft attacked several Hamas terror targets in southern Gaza including “a training camp and military infrastructure.” In a tweet, the IDF said they “hold #Hamas responsible for all acts of terror emanating from Gaza.” Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since a military takeover in 2007, triggering an Israeli blockade and constant clashes including rocket barrages.
The latest rocket launched from the Strip reportedly landed in an open field, but still sent thousands of Israelis running for shelters. This was only the latest in a wave of rocket, mortar, and explosive balloon attacks from the Strip into southern Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s zero tolerance stance toward attacks from Hamas or other terror groups in the Strip.
“I want to make this clear: We won’t accept any aggression from Gaza. Just a few weeks ago, we took out the top commander of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and I suggest that Islamic Jihad and Hamas refresh their memories,” Netanyahu said. “I won’t lay out in detail all our actions and plans in the media, but we’re prepared for crushing action against the terror groups in Gaza. Our actions are powerful, and they’re not finished yet, to put it mildly.”
