Israel’s Justice Minister has promised a thorough investigation into allegations that the controversial Pegasus program was used to spy on Israeli citizens, including people who led protests against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Cybersecurity group NSO is under scrutiny following accusations by a 17-member international media consortium that the Pegasus app was allegedly used to spy on journalists, activists and top corporate executives around the world.
This week the Israeli business daily Calcalist reported that Pegasus was also used to spy on citizens of the country who launched the 2021 protests against Netanyahu, when the politician was still prime minister.
The police forcefully denied the reports.
However, Israel’s Minister of Internal Security, Omar Barlev, a highly critical politician of Netanyahu who took office with the new government that ousted the former leader, offered a more nuanced defense.
“There is no wiretapping or hacking by the police, without an order from a judge,” he said.
The Pegasus app can only be sold to states and these sales must get the green light from a special commission in the Israeli Defense Ministry, which is responsible for approving arms sales.
Once the application is installed on a phone, Pegasus accesses all the phone owner’s content and messaging and also allows the phone to be remotely activated to record sounds or images.
