On Sunday, April 7, Israeli websites were disrupted again by “Operation Israel,” an initiative launched by the famous hacktivist group Anonymous. This cyberattack is the second Anonymous-led attack on Israeli servers.

The details of the group Anonymous remain secretive. The members of the group call themselves “hacktivists,” a term the group coined to describe its members' use of technological skills to fight for human rights. “Operation Israel” was launched by Anonymous Palestine, a branch of the Anonymous group dedicated solely to the Palestinian cause. There is little information about the group beyond its description on their Facebook pages.

The first attack by Anonymous came in November 2012, following the Israeli attacks against Gaza in “Operation Pillar Defense.” During its first round of hacks, Anonymous Palestine vowed to attack dozens of Israeli websites in solidarity with “the children of Israel and the Palestinian territories and the rights of the people in Gaza to maintain open lines of communication with the outside world.”

Anonymous's second round of hacks, “Operation Israel,” responds to what the group calls “Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians.” The group vows to wipe Israel “off the map of the internet.”