Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on October 10, 2014

A synagogue's website was hacked Thursday by an Islamist group that called for the "elimination of America and allies of the infidels."

Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El's site was taken down so law enforcement could study it, officials said.

The synagogue realized Thursday that when viewers clicked on its website, they were re-directed to a page announcing it had been hacked. The phrase "I love you ISIS" also appeared.

Plantation Police Chief Howard Harrison said the case has been turned over to the FBI. A spokesman at the FBI would not comment.

Rabbi Howard Needleman said he was "angry and annoyed."

"Obviously we know anti-Semitism exists and we know there are those in the world who support ISIS and radical Islamic groups," he said. But recent events, including the beheading of a South Florida journalist by radical group ISIS and hate pronounced on a local website make "these things very real."

The hacking group, which calls itself "Team System Dz," posts updates on their Facebook page about sites they have hacked. Their page boosts more than 3,000 "likes." On Friday, they also hacked a Jewish organization, Sim Shalom, an online synagogue based in New York, with the same text.

Friday was the second day of the major Jewish holiday called Sukkot, which commemorates the 40-year period the Israelites were wandering in the desert in between fleeing Egypt and entering Israel. It's festive, and deeply religious, so offices of Jewish institutions are closed and most followers wouldn't notice the hacking immediately.

"We live in a country of freedom and don't have to face these things on a daily basis but there are times anti-Semitism rears its head and we have to deal with it as best we can," Needleman said.

"We want to spread messages of peace and love and coming together and obviously ISIS has a very different world view."

See the rest here:

Islamist group defiles temple's website

Category: Synagogue
Tags: