Israel session on use of offensive cyberarms

Jerusalem, Aug. 4: Israel’s top defence committee will convene a special session on the use of “offensive cyberarms” in the wake of international backlash over the alleged misuse of NSO Group’s Pegasus software and further revelations that other Israeli firms may have also supplied similar spyware solutions to other countries, according to a media report.

The Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee will convene a closed session to discuss not just NSO and the string of revelations about its spyware’s potential targets exposed as part of the Project Pegasus, but also other Israeli offensive firms that have made headlines in recent months, daily Haaretz reported.

The Pegasus Project is a consortium of media outlets that reported the NSO’s Pegasus spyware was linked to hacks and potential surveillance. Firms like Candiru and Quadream have also sold their spyware solutions to non-democratic regimes, the report said.

“The session of the influential Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee is apparently not listed on their official agenda and it will be sealed off from the public and its minutes kept off the record because the session will be held by a sub-committee dedicated to “intelligence issues and other special issues,” the daily reported.

The meeting is reportedly set for August 9, though the committee chair, lawmaker Ram Ben Barak, has denied it. “Check your sources,” his office said when asked for a response about the planned discussion. The subcommittee dedicated to intelligence is a small forum comprising four lawmakers — Ben Barak, who in the past was the deputy head of the Mossad, Eli Avidar, who served in the agents’ department within Israel’s military intelligence, Eitan Ginzburg and Zvi Hauser. It is still unclear as to who will represent the defence establishment and what security bodies will be present, the report said.

The alleged use of the Pegasus software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and others in many countries, triggered concerns over issues relating to privacy. With new information on the scandal pouring in, it was reported that the phone of a prominent British human rights lawyer and close associate of Princess Latifa of Dubai was infected by NSO’s Pegasus software. —