Hackers interrupted the Eurovision Song Contest broadcast on the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) website Tuesday, streaming a fake Israel Defense Forces video message warning all viewers near the contest venue to immediately seek shelter.
Viewers saw a warning about a fictitious attack on the city, accompanied by an animated video and the sound of air raid sirens.
The two-minute video was only played in Israel, and appeared as an IDF message telling anyone within 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles) of the contest venue in northern Tel Aviv to seek immediate shelter due to the threat of rocket attack.
Kan issued a statement saying it believes the video’s reach was limited, and that “the [European Broadcast Union] and Kan view cyber security as being of the utmost importance and the matter is being investigated.”
Though pro-Palestinian activists have attempted to make the Palestinian cause the focus of the competition, small protests, limited marches and pressure by Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) operatives do not seem to have significantly affected the competition.
Picture: Screenshot of Australia’s 2019 Eurovision Entry being performed at the first semi-final on Tuesday (14/05/2019).
