Thousands of LGBT Israelis have received a text message that threatens an ultimatum: die, leave Israel, or repent. The news comes from The Aguda, Israel’s “pioneer LGBTQ organization,” a “national grassroots, volunteer-based, nonprofit human-rights organization.”
The text message reads: “You are LGBT and an apostate. You deserve severe punishment, death and deportation from Israel,” according to Metro Weekly. “Come to Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan in order to repent. We would be glad if you undergo conversion to faith.”
Who sent the texts?
The message, which included contact details, including a phone number and Telegram account, claimed to be from Rabbi Chaim Aryeh Hadash, the dean of Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan, a Lithuanian-style Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem. However, the rabbi denied involvement, saying he has never spoken about or addressed LGBT issues in his yeshiva, and encouraged the police to investigate.
The Aguda and Havruta, organizations that aim to “promote tolerance and acceptance” of LGBT people within the Orthodox community, asked the Rabbi to publicly condemn the messages, “to prevent the further great desecration of God that has already been done.”
How did they get the numbers?
The short answer is that we aren’t completely sure, but there are some leads.
Only a couple of months ago, the Iranian-based hacker group Black Shadow leaked data about hundreds of thousands of people on Atraf, a Tel Aviv-based LGBT website that offers a geo-located dating service.
This clearly led many gay people to panic. Ch, a man in his twenties, said, “It’s awful to break into my personal space and threaten to reveal my correspondence and pictures,” according to the Jerusalem Post. “I hide my sexual orientations, and my family and friends know nothing. It’s very problematic for me, and I’m really helpless these days and do not know what to do.”
The hackers threatened to leak the data if their demand–$1 million in 48-hours–wasn’t met. “48 hours ended! Nobody send us money,” they communicated via their Telegram channel. “They try to chat us, we will show you our chats. Data will be uploaded soon. But this is not the end, we have more plan.”
The Israel Internet Association and the Agudah advised users to change their passwords and usernames and, in any incident of ransom demands or blackmail, they should contact the police.
“The natural human tendency may be to succumb to the demands of the attackers, but past experience shows that there is no guarantee that the personal content will be removed. Moreover, it is an opening that may lead to additional ransom demands,” they stressed.
Since then, Atraf has been forced to shut down because Black Shadow was caught posting the personal data it hacked in November. The website is no longer safe for users.
These leaks put gay Israelis in danger, such as threats, like the aforementioned text messages, stalking, and having their private pictures and correspondence posted to humiliate them.
Because Atraf was a location-based dating service, are their homes safe?
