The Israeli opposition bloc Blue and White refuted on Thursday the rumors that Russia attempted to hack the mobile phone of the alliance's leader, Benny Gantz, who is the main rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming general election
TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2019) The Israeli opposition bloc Blue and White refuted on Thursday the rumors that Russia attempted to hack the mobile phone of the alliance's leader, Benny Gantz, who is the main rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming general election.On Wednesday, an Israeli broadcaster reported that a powerful and unusual Russian hacking attack had been registered by a cybersecurity firm, which advised the bloc to go to police over the incident.
"Neither Russians, nor Iranians [hacked our mobile phones]. The developments are someone's attempt to divert attention from the discussion of really important issues, for example, security matters, and to make everyone focus on a story that has not taken place," one of the leaders of the opposition bloc, Moshe Yaalon, told the Galei Tzahal radio broadcaster.
The opposition bloc says there were suspicions that the mobile phones of its leaders could have been targeted by hacking attacks, but the rumors turned out to be false.
The allegations were called fake news by a Russian diplomatic source.
"This is fake news. We are not commenting on such silly matters," the source told Sputnik.
Netanyahu, who leads the center-right Likud party, failed to form a governing coalition after the legislative election in April, so a new vote was scheduled for September 17. In the meantime, he has remained the prime minister.
Netanyahu's main opposition force, the liberal Blue and White alliance, consists of three political parties: the Israel Resilience, headed by Gantz; the Yesh Atid, chaired by Yair Lapid; and the Telem party, headed by Yaalon.
