meaning of the verb "hack off"

[KLPNO]

Hi everyone
I'd like to ask about the meaning of the verb 'hack off' in the following context.

A reporter was sent to make a story about life in Atlanta. When she returns to her hotel one evening she finds that a man from Nod (a large terrorist organization) is waiting for her to offer her to join them and she refuses. She thinks that this man was sent by one of the mayor's aides with whom she has rather tense relationship and the next day she accuses the aide of sending this recruiter to her. But the aide denies that and says as follows:

"I've never met anyone from Nod in my life. Some people are sympathetic to them, yeah, but that's mostly because they hack off GDI, and lots of folks around here don't like GDI much. But that's just talk. You sure this wasn't a prank?"

I found the following definition of this phrasal verb:

Hack off - Annoy
Example:
He HACKS me OFF with his endless complaining.

It seems to me that in the definition above 'hack off' means to irritate somebody very much. Looking at the sentence "...but that's mostly because they hack off GDI" I have a feeling that 'hack off' there means 'hate'. Am I correct?

[Jamie (K)]

The only meaning I know of "hack off" is to very brutally and carelessly chop something off. If you are caught stealing in Saudi Arabia, they hack off one of your hands. Sometimes in the tropics you can see a guy climb up a palm tree and hack off a coconut. Then he comes down the tree, puts down the coconut and hacks it open.

[KLPNO]