Online Bounty Campaign Targets Israeli Academics Across Multiple Countries
Source: IDF
Executive Summary
Two recent reports describe a dangerous development: an anti-Israel website calling itself the Punishment for Justice Movement has posted bounties for the assassination, intimidation, and targeting of hundreds of Israeli academics, including those living in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The site provides personal details, offers up to $100,000 for killings, and encourages armed groups to coordinate “contracts” through secure channels. This marks a significant escalation in online incitement, blending extremist ideology, doxxing, and financially incentivized violence into a transnational threat environment that extends far beyond Israel.
Analysis
The website’s publication of names, home addresses, family details, and contact information—paired with cash rewards for arson, intimidation, and murder—almost certainly represents an attempt to crowdsource violence through anonymous digital channels. This tactic mirrors methods used by past extremist networks that seek to shift risk to unaffiliated actors while avoiding direct attribution.
The Jerusalem Post reports that the website offers $50,000 for killing an Israeli academic and $100,000 for killing designated “special targets,” while also paying for arson, harassment, and intelligence gathering. It lists academic personnel from top institutions in Israel as well as universities abroad, including Harvard, Oxford, and CERN, and traces its hosting infrastructure to the Netherlands.
The Times of Israel notes that dozens of Israeli academic leaders were designated “criminals and collaborators” and that rewards were posted publicly in English, offering $1,000 for placing threatening signs at homes and $20,000 for burning vehicles. The website temporarily went offline after widespread scrutiny, and Israeli intelligence services have launched a probe amid suspicions of Iranian involvement.
Additional reporting indicates that the group’s narrative frames the academics as contributors to Israeli military efforts, positioning them as “legitimate targets.” This rhetoric attempts to justify violence by reframing academic research as participation in warfare. Israeli university officials and academic organizations describe the development as an unprecedented escalation amid rising antisemitism and anti-Israel activism worldwide.
The use of encrypted registration portals for would-be attackers suggests the group aims to build a clandestine, digitally mediated network similar to the “handler–contractor” model seen in transnational jihadist ecosystems. By incentivizing freelance violence, the movement seeks to lower the barrier for extremist action across multiple countries, expanding the threat surface to include Israeli nationals abroad and foreign academics working in Israel-related fields.
