Israeli Journalist Yinon Magal Targeted by Handala Hacktivists
Discovered today, the personal mobile device of the Deputy CEO of Channel 14, Yinon Magal, a prominent Israeli journalist and media figure, was allegedly hacked by the pro-Palestinian hacktivist group, Handala Hack Team.
Considered a high-profile target, he is best known as a right-wing media powerhouse, promoting nationalist and conservative perspectives through his flagship talk show on Channel 14.
On the group’s Tor site, they published a message addressed directly to Yinon Magal, along with several screenshots. These included a legal complaint targeting a program aired on Channel 14 for the commercial use of copyrighted material, an official Israeli military memo, and WhatsApp messages, some of which allegedly discuss mobile surveillance or telemetry applications for tracking the status or movement of individuals, along with photos and videos.
Additionally, the hacktivists leaked what appears to be his personal contact list, and what allegedly could be interpreted as an informal coded intelligence contact list with an unknown purpose. Handala Hack Team also leaked a zipped archive containing 16 MP3s, totaling 50.9 MB in size, of voice messages.
The message and possibly the data leak itself appear to be authored or attributed to a member of Handala, by the alias, vie6c, which seems to be a name used to publish breaches on their Tor site. This is the message they published to Yinon Magal:
In an age where propaganda masks itself as journalism, and occupation is whitewashed through prime-time television, we rise to pull the curtain back.
The personal mobile device of Yinon Magal , one of the most radical and vocal media figures in Israel , has been successfully compromised.
This is not just a breach.
It is a crack in the armored shield of the Zionist narrative machine.
Who is Yinon Magal?
Netanyahu’s right-hand man in the media.
Deputy CEO of the ultra-nationalist Channel 14 , the state’s unofficial mouthpiece.
Former editor-in-chief of Walla News, a platform long accused of bending to political pressure.
For years, Magal has used his platform to spew hate, justify war crimes, and mock the death of civilians in Gaza.He cheers on destruction, masks racism with “patriotism,” and packages occupation as national defense.
What Have We Done?
We have pierced the veil.
His device is now in our hands.
This is more than a technical intrusion, this is an opening into the back channels, the narratives, the personal files, and the true face of a man who has weaponized the media against the oppressed.
We do not seek chaos.
We seek exposure.
We seek reckoning.
Consider This a Warning:
This is just the beginning.
The war of truth has entered a new phase.
Handala watches.
Handala documents.
Handala reveals.
“You may own the screen,
but you do not control the truth.
”Yinon, feel free to remove our app from your phone , it won’t help you anymore…
Handala’s Ideological Fight
Handala has claimed responsibility for at least a dozen high-profile cyberattacks against Israeli-based or Israeli-affiliated entities since late 2023, coinciding with the war between Israel and Gaza, which ignited on October 7th.
The relevance of Handala’s targeting of such a prominent media personality, albeit one that actively promotes a geopolitical narrative aligned with Zionist ideology, may lie in its symbolic value to the threat actor group.
That is because by compromising a figurehead associated with nationalist aligned media, the group not only seeks to disrupt the media infrastructure but also to undermine mainstream narratives it perceives as reinforcing the status quo.
While the extent of the breach’s operational impact remains unclear, the psychological and propagandistic dimensions appear to be central to Handala’s intent.