State To Scrutinize Cellphone Spyware Scandal, Israeli Security Secretary Says

Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Barlev announced on Monday that his ministry was establishing a state commission of inquiry to investigate reports that the police illicitly used powerful cyber tools to surveil Israeli citizens, including confidants of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is on trial over several corruption charges. The economic news daily Calcalist said in an unsourced report that the police used Pegasus, the cellphone-hacking software made by Israel’s NSO Group, to “phish for intelligence even before any investigation had been opened against the targets, and without judicial warrants.” Among the targets were Netanyahu’s son Avner, two aides to Netanyahu, a co-defendant, several witnesses in the case, and two former officials suspected of leaking information to the press. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the report “very serious, if true.” “This tool (Pegasus) and similar tools 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,” he said in a statement.