Beware the post-Zionist hacking campaign

Noam Sheizaf By Noam Sheizaf July 21, 2011 | Edit

Anastassia Michaeli, a rightwing MK from Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party, in a debate over the digitization of schoolbooks:

“I oppose this idea. Arabs could hack into the books and change history.”

(v. Yossi Gurvitz)

UPDATE: This was a second-hand quote (a few bloggers posted it on twitter, and I translated their tweets). Here is the full text. It’s actually worse than the phrase I brought here (translation by Y. Gurvitz):

Believe me, hi-tech companies will develop new applications in the future, special protocols [and] operating systems in order to activate these [digital] textbooks. I am an electronics engineer, and I wanted to be a programmer, as well. I know computers and software very well.

Let me tell you that in a short while, in ten years, we will not be able to oversee the textbooks in the computers [inarticulateness in the original; possibly she meant to say “computerized textbooks” – YG]. See what kinds of propaganda the Israeli Arabs know how to make. They will enter all of the protocols system of the textbooks. They will write the history of the State of Israel for us. Wake up.

I am sorry Gideon Sa’ar isn’t here, that Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar isn’t here. There will be many hackers who will install for us their own textbooks. You will forget the Torah, you will forget what [the Book of ] Psalms is. The children of Israel will study the history of Palestine. I beg you to take care before supporting this bill. I am sure it will pass, but I warn you that in a few years we will “eat” these mistakes, and furthermore, parents in these times will pay the price. Thank you very much.

Hebrew original here, page 168.

Noam Sheizaf

Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He was the founding executive director and editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine. Prior to joining +972, he worked for Tel Aviv’s Ha-ir local paper, Ynet, and the Maariv daily, where his last position was deputy editor of the weekend magazine. He is currently working on a number of documentary films.

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