Anonymous website issues cash bounties for killing Israeli academics, publishes personal details

According to the postings, the operators are offering a range of payments: $1,000 for placing notices outside a target’s home, $5,000 for supplying information about a person, $20,000 for arson attacks, and $50,000 for murder.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli security officials are investigating an anonymous website that has posted threats against hundreds of Israeli academics and offered cash incentives for attacks, prompting warnings of an unusual and dangerous escalation.

The site, operating under the name The Punishment for Justice Movement, has circulated the names, photographs and private information of researchers from major universities in Israel and abroad, and encourages supporters to register for encrypted channels to discuss what it describes as “the contract.”

The platform lists individuals from institutions including Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Technion, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, and several foreign universities such as Harvard and Oxford.

Among the details displayed are phone numbers, addresses, email accounts and, in some cases, images resembling passports or visas. Some of those named live outside Israel, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to the postings, the operators are offering a range of payments: $1,000 for placing notices outside a target’s home, $5,000 for supplying information about a person, $20,000 for arson attacks, and $50,000 for murder.

The sum doubles for what the group calls “special targets,” a category that includes Ben-Gurion University president Daniel Chamovitz, physicist Shikma Bressler and former Weizmann Institute president Daniel Zajfman.

The organization claims these academics are “legitimate targets” and accuses them of aiding the Israeli military.

It says warnings were sent demanding they “abandon criminal activity,” asserting that those who continued “through financial and personal interests” had effectively marked themselves for retaliation.

A separate section lists dozens more senior figures in the sciences and defense-related fields, including researchers connected to Israel’s nuclear and particle-physics programs.

The catalog also names hundreds of additional students and faculty, each tied to a $50,000 reward for their killing.

Israeli officials say the site appears to operate from a Western country and may be linked to hostile foreign actors, including Iran, according to Ynet. The Shin Bet, Mossad and National Cyber Directorate have been alerted, and universities have advised faculty to heighten personal security and avoid publishing travel plans.

“This is a severe escalation in threats against Israeli civilians,” said a source aware of the investigation. “Even if this is a virtual organization, the explicit call for violence and the offer of financial rewards pose a real and immediate danger.”