Police used Pegasus to hack phones of prominent Israelis: Report – By News Agencies (Al Jazeera) / February 7, 2022
Targets include ex-PM Netanyahu’s son, two aides and two former officials suspected of leaking information to media.
Israeli police used Pegasus spyware to hack phones of dozens of prominent Israelis – including a son of former premier Benjamin Netanyahu – activists and senior government officials, an Israeli newspaper reported.
The revelation on Monday is the latest from the business daily Calcalist, which had previously reported that police used Pegasus without court authorisation against leaders of an anti-Netanyahu protest movement.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said “following the recent publications” he had asked Public Security Minister Omer Barlev to establish “an external and independent commission of inquiry, headed by a judge”, to probe the allegations.
“To the extent that the commission finds irregularities and failures, they will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” Shabtai said in a statement on Monday, adding that the incidents cited by Calcalist predated his appointment in 2021.
