The online stream of the Eurovision semi-finals in Israel was hacked to show warnings of a missile strike and images of blasts in the host city, Tel Aviv. The website for KAN’s television stations was interrupted on Tuesday evening – just as the competition’s first round was beginning – with a fake alert from Israel’s army telling of an impending attack. Messages such as: “Risk of Missile Attack, Please Take Shelter” and: “Israel is NOT Safe. You Will See!” appeared on the screen. Animated satellite footage showed explosions in the coastal city.

“We know that at a certain stage there was an attempt, apparently by Hamas, to commandeer our digital broadcast,” the chief executive of KAN, Eldad Koblenz, told Israel’s Army Radio. “But I am happy to say that within a few minutes we managed to assume control over this phenomenon.”

The Palestinian political and militant faction Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, did not provide comment. It has not made threats of violence against Eurovision. Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since taking power in 2007, and has waged frequent attacks during the past year as Israel’s army regularly bombs the strip.
Earlier this month, Hamas and other militants launched more than 600 rockets and mortar bombs into southern Israel while Israel’s air force struck hundreds of sites across Gaza. The three-day battle killed 23 people in Gaza and four in Israel and was one of the deadliest clashes since the 2014 war, leading to fears of another full-blown conflict before the international music event.(TheGuardian)…[+]