Israel announces inquiry into police use of spyware on ex-PM Netanyahu’s son, aides
- Israeli newspaper Calcalist says officers used Pegasus spyware on phones of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle and his son
- Paper alleges police used hacking tool to target people without warrants; Prime Minister Naftali Bennett deemed findings ‘very serious, if true’
Israel announced it was setting up a state commission of inquiry on Monday after a newspaper reported illicit use by police of powerful spyware against confidants of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a slew of 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”, the Calcalist newspaper said in an unsourced report.
Those targets included a son of and two aides to Netanyahu – who is on trial on corruption charges – as well as a co-defendant and several witnesses, and, separately, two former officials suspected over leaks to journalists, Calcalist said.
Lawyers for Netanyahu, who denies wrongdoing, urged that proceedings against him be suspended. But a court spokesman said he did not know if any such request had been filed with the judges, who were conducting the trial on Monday as scheduled.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who unseated Netanyahu in June, deemed Calcalist’s findings “very serious, if true”.