14 DAY TRIAL // The battle between Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Alqassam Brigades – the military arm of Hamas – has moved to cyberspace. Both sides have created Twitter accounts on which they boast about their accomplishments and make threats against each other.
The usual tweets made by the IDF are, in many cases, accompanied by raid photos and even videos and read something like this:
“The IDF is committed to ensure the safety of Israeli civilians. Hamas is responsible for every rocket fired from #Gaza. #IsraelUnderFire.”
“Good morning. 132 rockets were fired from #Gaza at Israeli civilians during the last 24 hours. #PillarOfDefense.”
The tweets posted by Alqassam Brigades read:
“Al Qassam launch ‘Operation Shale Stones’ in response on Israel's Operation Cloud Pillar. #Gaza #Hamas #GazaUnderAttack #ShaleStones #Israel”
“Breaking: #Israeli media sources confirmed that Qassam projectile has hit a power station in "Tel Aviv" Tel El Rabee city #Gaza #Hamas”
However, the two sometimes go head to head. Popular Science reports that, on one occasion, Alqassam Brigades wrote the following: “@IDFSpokesperson Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves).”
This message came in response to a previous post made by IDF, which recommended “that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead.”
Experts have often warned that soon enough wars will move to cyberspace. This is proven by the fact that many countries are rushing to instate cyber offensive and defensive units, and pass new legislation that would allow them not only to protect themselves, but also respond against online threats.
This Twitter feud between IDF and Alqassam Brigades is somewhere in the middle. However, considering that both sides are probably relying on computers to store their secrets, we should expect some announcements that aren’t necessarily about missiles, but about the theft of trade secrets and other valuable information.