The Israeli government will form an investigative committee to look into accusations that police used spyware to hack into the phones of Israeli prominent figures without their knowledge.
According to the daily Calcalist, officials, protestors, journalists, and the son of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were all targeted without a court order.
A witness in Mr Netanyahu’s corruption prosecution is also said to have been hacked.
The reports, according to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, are “very serious, if true”
According to reports, the police employed the Pegasus software produced by NSO, an Israeli monitoring corporation. NSO has been accused of selling and misusing its goods to totalitarian governments all over the world.
The business has previously said that it does not run the software once it is supplied to clients and that it cannot be used to track Israeli nationals. It has not responded to the most recent development.
Pegasus infects phones, allowing operators to read texts, photographs, and emails, record phone calls, and discreetly activate microphones and cameras.
“This instrument (Pegasus) and others like it are critical in the battle against terrorism and serious crime. However, they were not meant to be used in phishing attacks targeting Israeli citizens or authorities, which is why we need to figure out what occurred “Mr Bennett made the announcement in a statement.
The prime minister stated that Deputy Attorney General Amit Merari was investigating the problem immediately and that the newly appointed attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, would “not leave the public without answers”
According to President Isaac Herzog: “We cannot afford to lose our democracy. We can’t afford to lose our cops. And we must not lose the public’s faith in them. This necessitates a careful inquiry.”
According to Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, the panel of investigation will be led by a retired judge and will have the authority to examine anybody in the political, judicial, and security institutions as well as take records.
According to an article published on Monday by the Israeli business newspaper Calcalist, police hacked the phones of hundreds of Israeli people.
According to the publication, the monitoring was carried out by the force’s cyber-SIGINT section in order to “phish for intelligence even before any investigation had been opened against the targets, and without judicial warrants”
According to Calcalist, the hacking and data collection occurred while the police force was directed by Roni Alsheikh, who served as commissioner between 2015 and 2018.
According to Israeli media, police hacked the phone of Shlomo Filber, a former director-general of the communications ministry and crucial witness in Mr Netanyahu’s current trial on allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in connection with Case 4,000 and two other cases. There was no mention of Pegasus in the reports.
Mr Netanyahu, who, like Mr Elovitch, denies any wrongdoing, called the revelations “an earthquake” His attorneys were likely to ask for a delay in Mr Filber’s evidence, which is scheduled for next week.
It was unclear whether evidence collected as a result of the suspected hacking was utilized against Mr Netanyahu, who was deposed as Prime Minister in June. According to Israeli media, the cyber-SIGINT team did not disclose any data to investigators.