Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said his Telegram account was hacked after the publication of contact details and images on channels allegedly run by the pro-Palestinian Handala group.
Mr Bennett denied the news at first, admitting hours later that “the contents of the contact list, as well as real and fake photos and chats, were distributed”.
Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that many of the phone numbers were genuine and belonged to a range of international leaders and senior Israeli officials.
“Israel’s enemies will do everything to prevent me from becoming prime minister again. It won’t help them,” Mr Bennett said in a statement released by his office.
The hack is a major embarrassment for Mr Bennett, who is widely considered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival in the next election. Before his political career, he set up cyber security companies.
Handala is allegedly linked to Iran, and is known for leaking sensitive details belonging to Israeli officials, journalists and military leaders. It published Mr Bennett’s information on its website and on X, in a hack it called “Operation Octopus”. The former prime minister has often referred to Iran as a malign octopus.
The group wrote a message to Mr Bennett, published on X.
“Dear Naftali Bennett,” it read. “You once prided yourself on being a beacon of cyber security, parading your expertise before the world. Yet, how ironic that your own iPhone 13 has fallen so easily into the hands of Handala. For all your boasts and bravado, your digital fortress was nothing more than a paper wall waiting to be breached.”
