Activism

Global March to Jerusalem website blocked in Israel; decoy site directs to hasbara video

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Yesterday, a Mondoweiss reader in Haifa sent us the following note:

I just wanted to inform you that all day today, I have not been able to access the official website to the Global March to Jerusalem: http://gm2j.com/main/. The link would not connect using either google Chrome or explorer. I was able to access the NA site and google also offered a cashed site supposedly from earlier in the day (but very poor).

Also, in googling “Global March to Jerusalem” the first site listed is a news item from “Israel News Agency” with the headline “Iran Sponsored Global March to Jerusalem Launches Website“

When you click on the link given on that page for the march’s website — www.March2Jerusalem.com — you are directed to a you tube hasbara video denying Israel as an apartheid state:

The fake website appears to be the work of Joel Leyden, who runs the “Israel News Agency” which “reported” on the website. Leyden has pulled similar stunts before, including these fake sites he set up during the second Freedom Flotilla.

(h/t Benjamin Doherty for background on Leyden)

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RE: “Global March to Jerusalem website blocked in Israel…”

SEE: “The First Word: A day in Jerusalem”, By Yehudah Mirsky, Jerusalem Post, 05/07/09 

(excerpt) Nobody who has lived in Jerusalem in recent years needs any educating about the sword from without. A week ago Thursday I discovered the terror within. It coils through Jerusalem’s streets, and us… 
…As I came out of the plaza, right across the street from city hall, I saw four men jump, stomp and kick the daylights out of several others (Lord knows why) and run off.
I called for the police and waited for them to arrive as people ran out of the surrounding pubs to help the crushed victims, whose blood ran down the sidewalk. 
First ambulances came – some of the EMTs were haredim, and some were women. Then came the police, and I reported to them what I’d seen. After the police left, some young haredim came up to me, hungry for details: Did you see fists? Did you see a knife? 
I told them how earlier in the day their comrades had nearly done the same to me. “There was action at the demo? We missed it?”… 
…When I finally got home, at about 2:30 in the morning, my wife was, luckily for me, awake. I told her something that I had been thinking and scared to say for a long while: that the Jerusalem of my dreams, the Jerusalem where heaven and earth kiss, the Jerusalem of my father’s childhood, is finally dead. . .

ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710892040&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

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The reason the Haifa reader couldn’t get to the official GM2J site is that the site came under an intense distributed denial-of-service attack from inside Israel, and the only way the site administrators could keep it up and accessible from the rest of the world was to block requests from all Israeli Internet addresses. Here’s a statement the team put out early this morning:

Access to Global March to Jerusalem website

from Israel blocked in wake of denial-of-service attacks

Journalists, Israeli supporters can turn to North American site,
Twitter for latest news on peaceful protest campaign

London – One day before the Global March on Jerusalem – featuring demonstrations in the holy city itself, at checkpoints surrounding it, in Israel, in nearby countries, and around the world – administrators of the project’s website, gm2j.com, were forced to block access to the site from Israeli Internet addresses after the site came under an intense denial-of-service attack from inside Israel.

“We took this step with great reluctance,” said Shabbir Hassanally, administrator of gm2j.com, “because we know that many Israeli and international journalists based in Israel, as well both Palestinian and Jewish supporters of the march within that country, have been counting on our site for updates throughout this historic day.”

Unfortunately, Hassanally said, not blocking access from Israeli ISPs would have caused the site to become unavailable from anywhere – including Israel. Although security measures had thwarted earlier attempts to disrupt the site, by Wednesday evening a concerted distributed denial of service attack was producing millions of requests per hour at times. The DDoS attack, coupled with the already high legitimate traffic for the site, would have completely prevented access. Investigation showed that the rogue requests were primarily from Israeli Internet service providers, including Netvision Israel and Hotnet Israel. At that point the GM2J Website Team decided that the only option available to ensure the site would remain available for genuine users elsewhere was a complete block on access from Israel.

“The good news,” Hassanally added, “is that the site is still up and running, despite the desperate attempts to shut it down. The truth will not be silenced.”

Journalists and supporters unable to reach gm2j.com can follow developments as the marches unfold on gmj-na.org, a related site operated by GMJ-North America, an autonomous association supporting the global initiative, and on Twitter.com, by following the official GMJ account, @gm2j, or by searching for the hashtag #gmj. Information will also be posted to GMJ’s official Facebook page,
 https://www.facebook.com/GMJ.Arb

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