First, let me say a few words about what Anonymous actually is: An idea. A man is fragile, so are a group of people, but an idea, that can’t be killed.

But it can be hijacked by anyone. Anyone can claim they are Anonymous. I can say I am Anonymous and you won’t be able to prove it one way or another. The problem is that the group has this reputation of avenging the weak and oppressed, of exacting justice where justice is lacking.

I am not going to go into the actual issue of whether or not an injustice is being committed against Palestinians or Israelis. I believe both have suffered more than enough, and are hostages of political movements with radical ideas.

Here is what I believe #OpIsrael will actually achieve (and has already achieved, even before it happened):

1. Increase world awareness to the Israeli / Palestinian problem. Except the world is already very much aware of this problem (and sick of it, quite frankly), so this is kinda pointless and will achieve nothing.
2. Improve security systems in Israel – I know that IT engineers in Israel have been preparing for a few weeks now, backing up data, securing servers, reconfiguring networking equipment, purchasing new equipment, etc.
3. With the Israeli mind hard at work on creating security solutions for the silly hacking attempts by “Anonymous” operatives, new security products will come out of the Israeli hi-tech sector, with existing products significantly improved to deal with such situations in the future.
4. It will increase security awareness at ISP’s and other large companies in Israel, and convince executives to increase budget for security equipment and personnel. The situation, and the media coverage, will surely give them a great excuse to do just that.
5. It will teach network operators in Israel and Europe to deal with such attacks, and nudge them to better organize and coordinate their efforts.
6. Show to the world that “Anonymous” is just a group of anonymous people – they could be terrorists fighting for an evil cause, or they can be good guys fighting for a good cause. The point is that you don’t know, which is the essence of the Anon movement. But one thing is for sure: If Anonymous was a “good” group in the past in the eyes of public opinion, it will now show its “sinister” face due to its association with a terrorist organization, and will eventually harm peace activists everywhere because the tracking tools will improve, and punishment for participating in such an attack will become more severe.

And this is why I see the whole thing in a pretty positive light for Israel. Whatever short term damage might be caused by a bunch of script kiddies, will yield amazing long term benefits for the state of Israel and for the world.