Israel to review charges of misuse, licensing process of Pegasus

Jerusalem, July 23

Amid the Pegasus snooping case backlash, Israel has established a committee to review the allegations of misuse of the NSO group’s surveillance software and hinted at a possible “review of the whole matter of giving licences”.

The alleged use of the Pegasus software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and others in a number of countries, including India, triggered concerns over issues relating to privacy. Politicians, rights activists and journalists were among those targeted with phone spyware sold to various governments by the Israeli firm, according to an international media consortium.

What the NSO says

• The NSO said: “We take action if we detect any misuse. This technology is rooted in the protection of human rights and that’s why we have sought alignment with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
• Without confirming, or denying, if the software was sold to India, the company had said that its “products were licensed to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing and investigating terror and serious crime”.

“The defence establishment appointed a review committee made up of a number of bodies,” lawmaker Ram Ben-Barak, the head of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, told Army Radio on Thursday. “When they finish their review, we’ll demand to see the results and assess whether we need to make corrections,” Ben-Barak, who earlier was the former deputy head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, added. Israel’s priority was “to review this whole matter of giving licenses”, he stressed.

NSO’s chief executive, Shalev Hulio claimed that there was an effort “to smear the whole Israeli cyber industry”.Ben-Barak noted that Pegasus had helped “expose many terror cells”, but “if it was misused or sold to irresponsible bodies, this is something we need to check”.The NSO head said his company could not disclose the details of its contracts due to “issues of confidentiality,” but said “he would offer full transparency to any government seeking more details”. — PTI