Ari Ben Am & Annie Fixler | Nov 25, 2025
Iran’s henchmen have a penchant for threatening political opponents with violence, which has taken new form in the digital age. The Jerusalem Post revealed on November 21 that a new organization, the Punishment for Justice Movement, was offering tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for the assassination of Israeli academics with some designated as special targets. Although the organization has no overt ties to Tehran, its behavior fits into a broader pattern of regime behavior. Within hours, the website was taken down, but the psychological damage may have already been done.
Technical Assessment: Iran Wanted To Be Discovered
On its website, this alleged “non-governmental and international movement” encouraged Israelis and people abroad to harm or even kill Israeli academics in exchange as much as $100,000. Simple acts of intimidation like posting intimidating flyers might reward the culprit with $1,000.
To help would-be assassins with the task, the website provided home addresses — including addresses in the United States — phone numbers, email addresses, and other identifying information for hundreds of Israeli academics. The group justified its action claiming that academics are legitimate targets in war because they “use their knowledge to kill innocent people and children by spreading weapons of mass destruction to the Israeli military,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
The Punishment for Justice Movement used Cloudflare to host its website. While the organization registered the site in August, it appears, based on internet records, that it posted the assassination bounties much more recently. The use of a Western hosting company indicates that the group wanted maximum exposure to Western audiences, which can be difficult to achieve from Iranian hosted domains and infrastructure. It also indicates that the group knew that the website would be taken down quickly once discovered and so prioritized high visibility in a short period of time.
Iranian Actors Have a History of Intimidation
The Punishment for Justice Movement is just the latest example of Iranian actors attempting to intimidate civilians. During the Israel-Hamas war, an Iranian group posted the personal information and travel schedule of Israeli Olympians and sent them threatening text messages. Another Iranian group offered sums of money for the assassination of members of the anti-regime Mujahedin-e-Khalq organization based in Albania.
Iran has even attempted this type of operation against U.S. targets. During the 2020 presidential elections, Iranian cyber actors created a website called “Enemies of the People,” with pictures of U.S. officials with crosshairs over their images. The website issued death threats and posted the politicians’ personal information.
Law Enforcement Should Investigate and Prosecute
Because some of the Israeli academics reside in the United States, federal law enforcement may have jurisdiction and should investigate. The FBI should request website registration information from Cloudflare to determine the individuals behind the website, with an eye towards charging those individuals with harassment and attempted assault.
The website solicited interested parties to fill out a contact form to then communicate with the organization securely on another platform. If Cloudflare has any information on who filled out the contact form, the company should provide that data to the FBI which should then investigate whether those individuals have means and opportunity to conduct the crimes.
While the website is no longer active, the widespread media coverage of the threat has already achieved Iran’s goal of scaring Israelis. The FBI and its global law enforcement partners should work to ensure the operation does not further succeed in turning psychological damage into physical harm.
Ari Ben Am is an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD’s) Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI), focusing on emerging threats, influence and information operations, cyber operations, and hybrid warfare. Annie Fixler is the director of CCTI and an FDD senior fellow. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD, @FDD_CCTI, and @FDD_Iran. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
Some shoulld re-read Macbeth where LAdy M late inthe play notes that bad behaviour returns to roost.
The Ayatollahs have in effect signed the warrant for all their enemies to assassinate – good Arab word – them whenever possible.