Head of the Octopus
Hackers Release More Content From Bennett's iPhone
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett attempted yesterday to brush off the claims of Iranian hacking group Handala, saying they had access to his Telegram but not to his phone itself. In response, the group has released almost 2,000 more files.
The dispute over the alleged hacking of former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s communications deepened on Wednesday, as an Iranian-linked hacker group released additional materials it says were taken directly from his personal smartphone, directly contradicting Bennett’s account of the incident.
The group, known as Handala, claims it breached Bennett’s iPhone and extracted a broad range of personal data, including private conversations, contact lists, images, videos and voice messages. Bennett has denied that his device itself was compromised, saying instead that attackers gained access only to his Telegram account. He has also warned that some of the content circulating online is fabricated, citing an AI-generated image depicting him alongside Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion as an example.
In response to Bennett’s claims, Handala published what it described as an additional 1,900 chat conversations, asserting they were obtained “directly from the device” in order to prove that he was misleading the public. In a lengthy statement posted to its official website, the group mocked Bennett’s past reputation as a tech entrepreneur and advocate of cyber security, writing that his “digital fortress” had proven to be little more than a “paper wall.”
The hackers have also released a large contact list allegedly taken from Bennett’s phone, running more than 140 pages and containing phone numbers of senior figures in Israeli politics, business, media and academia. Alongside this, they have published selected personal messages and images, some of them intimate in nature, as well as documentation of meetings with public figures and private citizens.
However, despite the group’s sweeping claims, cybersecurity experts note that much of the material released so far appears consistent with access to a messaging account rather than full control over a physical device. The publication of contact cards and chat histories from a messaging platform does not, on its own, prove a successful phone-level breach. This assessment has led some observers to argue that the latest releases may actually support Bennett’s assertion that Telegram, not his phone, was the primary point of compromise.
Israeli security authorities, including the Shin Bet, are examining the incident. Officials have not ruled out the possibility that the data was accessed through the device or account of someone close to Bennett, rather than from his own phone. A senior figure in the cybersecurity sector told Israeli media that Handala is considered a group with a relatively high level of operational credibility and may continue releasing additional materials in stages.
Bennett, for his part, has framed the affair as a hostile influence operation. He said the matter is being handled by security services and accused Israel’s enemies of attempting to damage him politically, adding that such efforts would not deter him from continuing to act in the public arena.