Israeli Parliament Summons Police, Pegasus Is Used To Spy On Its Own Citizens

Calcalist said police had the Pegasus spyware created by Israel's NSO Group. (photo; doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Israeli parliament will seek an explanation from the police for reports of the use of the controversial hacking tool, Pegasus, by the Israeli police against their own nationals.

Without citing sources, the financial daily Calcalist said police had the Pegasus spyware created by Israel's NSO Group. The company, which is now blacklisted by the US government, according to Israeli legislators, has been doing this since 2013.

Calcalist said police used it against targets including anti-government protest leaders. Sometimes they even do so without the required subpoena.

The report adds a new domestic angle to global pressure on Israel following allegations that Pegasus has been abused by some of their foreign client governments to spy on human rights activists, journalists, and politicians.

Responding to Calcalist's report, Police Commissioner, Kobi Shabtai, said that they had obtained the cyber technology from a third party. However, he neither confirmed nor denied the use of Pegasus.

"All such monitoring activities, carried out according to law ... (and) for example, in the case of secret wiretapping, a request is made to the court, which examines the matter," Shabtai said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

He denied reports by the Calcalist newspaper that police had used spyware against the activist leaders of the so-called "Black Flag" protests last year demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges.

On Israel's Channel 12 TV news, legislator Meirav Ben Ari said the parliament's public safety committee he chaired would convene as early as next week to question police about the Calcalist report.

"Many MPs approached me today. This is a very troubling incident, raising concerns about the violation of privacy and democracy as a whole," said Ben Ari. "The police, as they do every time they come to my trial, will explain this."

NSO said it could not confirm or deny existing or potential customers. They stated that they did not operate the system after it was sold to customers. Even the Israeli government is not involved in any way in the operation of the system.

"NSO sells its products under license and regulation to intelligence and law enforcement agencies to prevent terror and crime under court orders and local laws in their country," said a source at NSO.