Reportedly used against confidants of former public figures.
Israel announced it was setting up a national inquiry after a newspaper reported illicit use by police of powerful spyware against confidants of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other public figures.
Pegasus, a cellphone hacking tool made by Israel’s NSO Group, was used to “phish for intelligence even before any investigation had been opened against the targets, and without judicial warrants”, Calcalist said in an unsourced report.
The furore has added a domestic angle to allegations that surfaced last year of misuse of Pegasus by foreign clients against journalists, rights activists and other figures, which prompted the Israeli government to order export reviews.
NSO says all its sales are government-authorised and that it does not itself run Pegasus.
Calcalist said targets in Israel included a son of and two aides to Netanyahu – who is on trial on corruption charges he denies – as well as a co-defendant and several witnesses, and, separately, two former officials suspected in leaks to journalists.
The court hearing the case against Netanyahu said it was cancelling the next session, scheduled for Tuesday, and would await answers from the prosecution about the hacking allegations before deciding whether proceedings would resume on Wednesday.
Read the article by Dan Williams in iTNews.