Israeli Police used Pegasus spyware to hack phones of prominent citizens: Report

Police used Pegasus spyware to hack phones of several Israeli citizens, including activists and government officials, Israeli daily Calcalist reported Monday.

Pegasus is an advanced surveillance system created by Israel’s NSO Group, that can extract sound and video recordings, encrypted communications, photos, contacts, location data, and text messages from smartphones that have been remotely implanted.  

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Allegations of its use against dissenters and opposition members have sprung up through investigations in various countries, including India, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico, among others. The latest report sheds light on the use of the spyware against Israel’s own citizens, including former president Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Avner.

Calcalist had earlier reported that police used Pegasus without court authorisation against leaders of the anti-Netanyahu protest movement. 

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Police commissioner Kobi Shabtai has also joined those demanding an independent probe into the matter. He recommended the government form an external investigation committee headed by a judge to look into the matter. The inquiry, he said, should aim to “restore public trust in the Israel police on the one hand, and regulate the use of technology by the Israel police on the other”.

The spyware has also reportedly been used against a key witness in Netanyahu’s corruption trial in order to get information before the investigation had even begun. The former PM is facing allegations over charges of fraud, accepting bribes, and breach of trust.

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Netanyahu’s successor, Naftali Bennett, said that the allegations regarding the use of Pegasus, if true, are “very serious”, according to an Associated Press article on the Calcalist report. In a statement, he said Pegasus and other such products  “are important tools in the fight against terrorism and severe crime, but they were not intended to be used in phishing campaigns targeting the Israeli public or officials — which is why we need to understand exactly what happened.”

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He added that he had plans to take the matter up with the country’s next attorney general. 

“We will not leave the public without a response on the matter,” Bennett said. 

(With inputs from Associated Press)