(IsraelNN.com) The Globes business site informed the Bank of Israel on Friday that its site was reporting anti-Israel messages - and two days later, the site is still down. The extent of the damage is unclear.

Surfers visiting the Bank of Israel's website to check the rise/fall of the dollar or other information are greeted with the message, "The site is temporarily closed."  Hackers assumed to be from Algeria broke into the site as early as Thursday, replacing lists of foreign currency exchange rates and other numbers with threatening warnings against the Jews. 

Reporters from Globes said they were the first to inform Bank of Israel officials, who were away celebrating the Passover holiday.  The site was immediately closed down, and remains that way as of Sunday.  Bank of Israel spokesman Yossi Saadon said the site would reopen only after it verifies the source of the hacking and ensures that the attack is over.

The hackers warned that Israel would lose in war against the Muslims, that the "scenario of Chechnya will be repeated and we will drive you out. Millions of young Muslims are willing to die for al-Quds [Jerusalem], which belongs to us."

This is the first time that hackers have succeeded in planting their own message on an official Israeli website, Globes reports. It is not clear whether the hackers have managed to actually erase or corrupt Bank of Israel data.  Saadon said blankly, "The matter is being dealt with," adding that the bank's information and internal systems are kept separate and that its financial transactions systems were protected.

The hackers' message expressed support for "the armed resistance of the Palestinians, Iraqis and Lebanese against the US and Israel. I am serious about the liberation! By any means rendered necessary!"  A link to a YouTube video was also included, featuring Moslems waving Kalashnikov rifles.

Bank of Israel's website has seen an increase in traffic in recent months, given the dramatic changes in the dollar-shekel rate.  The dollar is currently trading at 3.49 shekels.

Previous Arab Hacking
Earlier this year, an Israeli-Arab youth from the Galilee was arrested for leading a group of hackers from several Arab countries, including Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, who broke into Israeli websites.  The Likud, Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team, and Israeli businesses were among those whose websites were attacked. The 17-year-old Arab ran the hacking business from his home computer.