Pro-Netanyahu daily tweets false story on Trump's health after hack
The Twitter account of Israel Hayom, a daily newspaper close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was hacked on Monday morning, publishing fake news about Hezbollah and Donald Trump.
Among the false tweets were posts claiming Trump, who is currently being treated in a military hospital for Covid-19, had handed power over to Vice President Mike Pence and been admitted to intensive care.
Another, grammatically incorrect, tweet said a group of armed people sprayed graffiti on the home of Bill and Hillary Clinton, before being scared away by the police.
A third claimed a Hezbollah “homemade underwater spy drone” had been found in the waters of Haifa, a northern Israeli port city.
The tweets, all of which were published after 10.30am local time, were removed.
Israel Hayom confirmed that access to its English-language Twitter account was blocked by hackers who published “false” news.
“We apologise for this incident and are acting to swiftly regain control of our Twitter account,” Israel Hayom said.
Israel Hayom is renowned as being particularly close to Netanyahu and his government, and the right-wing daily is heavily supportive of the Trump administration.
It is owned by Sheldon Adelson, a Jewish-American billionaire and close friend of Netanyahu's, who has donated millions to the election campaigns of both the Israeli premier and Trump.
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