Two Israeli television news programs were briefly hacked, with images promoting Islam and a message suggesting a recent wave of fires was divine retribution shown in their place, reports said on Nov. 30.
The incident on the night of Nov. 29 came ahead of an expected vote in parliament on a bill to prevent the use of loudspeakers for early morning and late night calls to prayer at mosques.
Programs on Channels 2 and 10 were interrupted for around 30 seconds by images of Muslim sites, including Jerusalem’s Haram al-Sharif, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.
A call to prayer was also played as well as a message that seemed to refer to divine retribution.
The Israeli parliament was expected to take an initial vote on the bill to prevent the use of loudspeakers at mosques on Nov. 30.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said the bill was “unacceptable,” calling the move “offensive to Islam and freedom of worship.”
Speaking at an inter-parliamentary conference themed “Al-Quds and Its Current Challenges” in Istanbul, Yıldırım said Nov. 29 that Turkey would stand against all practices in violation of the freedoms of religion and belief.
“Checkpoints placed in and around Al-Quds restrict the freedom of Muslim and Christian communities to a great extent, preventing access to churches and mosques,” Yıldırım said.
Major fires fed by high winds and dry conditions hit parts of Israel and the occupied West Bank last week, destroying hundreds of homes and causing tens of thousands to evacuate.
In July 2014, pirates hacked the Israeli military’s Twitter account during that year’s war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
