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WhatsApp says viral warnings of a cyberattack targeting Jews are baseless
(JTA) — A representative from WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform, says that viral messages spread on the app warning about potential cyberattacks targeting Jews are a hoax.
The warnings appear to have begun circulating since Saturday on multiple online platforms, NBC News reported. On Saturday evening, crypto influencer Scott Melker posted the warning on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, urging his followers to share the post. Melker has nearly one million followers on X and a verified account on that platform from which he can make money.
“No idea if this is true, but better safe than sorry,” Melker wrote. “Warning coming out of Israel re cyber attacks:”
The warning claims hackers will try to get WhatsApp users to download a file through the app called “Seismic Waves CARD” that enables phone hacking within 10 seconds. Melker’s post has been retweeted 200 times and has been viewed 250,000 times. The warning has since been posted nearly 30 times on X and has also spread to other social media and messaging platforms, according to NBC News.
Emily Westcott, a communications manager at WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, told multiple news outlets that this kind of hoax had circulated before. She pointed to a previous statement by the company, made to fact-checking website Snopes, that said similar messages related to the September earthquake in Morocco were also false.
The spread of the hoax plays off of fears of spyware in victims’ phones, a problem that has cropped up in the past but is rare. In 2019, researchers learned that Israeli cyber-intelligence company NSO Group had found a vulnerability in WhatsApp’s code and created spyware that was able to infect cell phones through the app’s voice calling function. The spyware allegedly targeted 1,400 users, including journalists, attorneys, human rights activists, political dissidents, diplomats, and other senior foreign government officials, according to a lawsuit brought by WhatsApp against NSO. According to several reports, NSO’s products played a role in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Under Elon Musk’s leadership, X has come under heavy criticism for its relaxed approach to content moderation and misinformation. Musk himself has engaged with posts spreading conspiracy theories.
On Sunday, Musk recommended that X users follow accounts known for promoting lies in order to stay updated on the Israel-Hamas fighting, before deleting the post. One of those accounts, the War Monitor, has also posted antisemitic content in the past, including a post saying, “the overwhelming majority of people in the media and banks are zionists.”
Old and repackaged videos from previous conflicts, video game clips purporting to be footage from the ground, and a false press release from the White House alleging the Biden administration had allocated $8 billion in emergency aid to Israel have also circulated on X in the days following the outbreak of the war.
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The post WhatsApp says viral warnings of a cyberattack targeting Jews are baseless appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.