Passengers at airports in British Columbia and Pennsylvania were shocked beyond belief on Tuesday when loudspeakers suddenly blasted pro-Hamas messages and slurs against President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Videos shared online by travelers showed the unauthorized recordings echoing through different terminals at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania and Kelowna International Airport in Canada.
Screens at Kelowna also were seen flashing messages that praised Hamas and urged them to Free Palestine, as per officials who spoke to witnesses on the matter.
Airport authorities mentioned how the digital break-ins targeted both public address systems and flight information displays, which is a form of cyber vandalism that disrupted boarding and left so many passengers startled beyond belief. Thankfully, there were no flight safety issues reported, but delays were expected.
Speaking to media outlet CNN, an unauthorized user is believed to have gained access to the airport’s PA system, and they played an unauthorized recorded message.
This message was very political in nature and did not feature any threats against the airport, tenants, airlines, or passengers. Right now, an investigation is taking place to figure out how they got access to the system and how a major security lapse could have led to this incident.