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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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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.