Hacked By Turkish Extremists

By: Amanda Elk

Think about, on a small scale, how the words or actions of one person have the ability to impact many people around them. A kind gesture, an insult; even an impulse to protect someone at another's expense, they all have their impacts on others. Now what happens if we transfer this to a larger scale, even a global scale? What if a kind word had the ability to save hundreds, or even thousands of people? What if a seemingly harmless act had the ability to kill hundreds, or even thousands? Most importantly, what impact is created by the media when portraying the actions taken by individuals and/or countries? Consider these things as you read this article.

Recently, Ezra USA's website was hacked by Turkish Extremists who posted a strong anti-Israeli message for all to see. Unfortunately, the actions of a select few have the ability to impact many. Seemingly this is a harmless act that does not directly hurt anyone. All it does is portrays an opinion about Israel and supporters of it...or does it? Is it possible that messages like this can be indirectly responsible for the loss of people's lives?

Tensions between Israel and Turkey have become increasingly worse over some time. Let us examine the situation that happened earlier this year with the Turkish flotilla that was stopped from entering Gaza. Prior to the incident, Turkey was considered "Israel's closest friend in the Muslim world". It is no secret that Turkey was unhappy with the way issues were progressing in Gaza, and when eight Turkish humanitarians were killed in the flotilla incident, relations did not get any better.

Media spins regarding this incident only succeeded in making matters worse. Additionally, Turkey's government has become more Muslim oriented over the last few years, and has made no attempt to cover up anti-Israeli feelings. Despite the two planes Turkey sent to aid Israel during the recent fires in Carmel, anti-Israeli sentiments are still alive and well. The Turkish government is still waiting not only for Israel to apologize for the flotilla incident, but to pay reparations to the families impacted by the incident.

The purpose here is not to determine who is right or wrong in the conflict, but simply to point out that there are already tensions that exist between Israel and Turkey. People have already suffered and will continue to suffer as long as the conflict escalates. Yes, there are attempts being made to quiet the problems, such as the meeting in Geneva between Yosef Ciechanover (U.N. representative to Israel) and Feridun Sinirlioglu (foreign ministry undersecretary) on December 5, 2010. The question raised then is; are media exploitations such as Turkish extremists hacking into pro-Israeli Jewish youth movements' websites helping create peaceful relations?

The obvious answer is NO. It does not do any good to publicly spew hate messages when the situation is already bad to begin with. Granted, hacking of Ezra's website was not done by the Turkish government, but people need to be made aware that their actions affect others. Spewing hate messages cannot possibly do anything good, in this case or any other one. The only thing that the message posted on Ezra's website can hope to accomplish is promoting hate. Innocent people continue to have to deal with the ramifications of the hateful feelings of a select few. We as a community have to ask ourselves two things: (1) is this the kind of world we want to live in; and (2) what can we do to counteract this kind of social indignation without stooping to the same level as they did? I will leave you to decide the answers on your own.