{"id":18713,"date":"2022-03-23T21:44:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T21:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=18713"},"modified":"2022-03-23T21:44:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T21:44:16","slug":"israel-blocked-ukraine-from-buying-pegasus-spyware-fearing-russias-anger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/03\/23\/israel-blocked-ukraine-from-buying-pegasus-spyware-fearing-russias-anger\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel blocked Ukraine from buying Pegasus spyware, fearing Russia\u2019s anger"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Israel blocked\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0from buying NSO Group\u2019s Pegasus spyware for fear that Russian officials would be angered by the sale of the sophisticated hacking tool to a regional foe, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

The revelation, following a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel\u2019s relationship with\u00a0Russia\u00a0has at times undermined Ukraine\u2019s offensive capabilities \u2013 and contradicted US priorities.<\/p>\n

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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy,\u00a0has been critical\u00a0of Israel\u2019s stance since Russia launched its full and bloody invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, saying in a recent address before members of Israel\u2019s Knesset that Israel would have to \u201cgive answers\u201d on why it had not given weapons to Ukraine or applied sanctions on Russians.<\/p>\n

People with direct knowledge of the matter say that, dating back to at least 2019, Ukrainian officials lobbied\u00a0Israel\u00a0to try to convince it to license the spyware tool for use by Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But those efforts were rebuffed and NSO Group, which is regulated by the Israeli ministry of defense, was never permitted to market or sell the company\u2019s spyware to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

When it is successfully deployed against a target, Pegasus can be used to hack into any mobile phone and intercept phone conversations, read text messages, or view a user\u2019s photographs. It can also be used as a remote listening device, because a government user of the spyware can use it to remotely turn a mobile phone recorder on and off.<\/p>\n

Recent press reports, including by the Pegasus project, a media consortium that investigated NSO and included the Guardian and Washington Post, has focused on how the spyware has been used by NSO\u2019s government clients to target journalists and human rights defenders around the world. The consortium\u2019s reporting has also showed how, from Hungary to Saudi Arabia,\u00a0sales of Pegasus were often aligned with Israeli foreign policy.<\/p>\n

The spyware has also been used against senior government and diplomatic officials, from Spain to France to Uganda, in cases that were seen as attempts by some countries to use the tool to conduct domestic or international espionage.<\/p>\n

NSO has said its spyware is meant to be used by government clients to target serious criminals and terrorists. It has also said it investigates serious allegations of abuse.<\/p>\n

People with knowledge of the matter said that in most routine cases, Israel\u2019s ministry of defense first grants NSO permission to market Pegasus to a government client and then, following a review, either allows or blocks a sale of the technology.<\/p>\n

One senior Ukrainian intelligence official said Israel\u2019s decision had left Ukrainian officials feeling \u201cconfused\u201d. The official said he did not have total visibility into why Ukraine was denied access to the powerful spying tool but added that he believed the US government supported Ukraine\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the matter said Israel\u2019s decision reflected a reluctance to agitate Russia, which has a close intelligence relationship with Israel. The sources said Israel feared that granting Ukraine the ability to target Russia-based mobile phone numbers through Pegasus would be viewed as an act of aggression against Russian intelligence services.<\/p>\n

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\"Zelenskiy\"<\/div>
Volodomyr Zelenskiy has accused Israel of inaction over the Russia invasion.<\/span> Photograph: Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was not the only time one of Russia\u2019s key regional foes had been denied some access to Pegasus. People familiar with the matter say that Estonia, a Nato member, acquired access to Pegasus in 2019 but was informed by NSO in August that year that the company would not permit Estonian officials to use the spyware against Russian targets.<\/p>\n

The Estonian ministry of defense spokeswoman Susan Lillev\u00e4li declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In response to a detailed set of questions, NSO issued a one-line statement: \u201cNSO continues to be subjected to inaccurate media reports regarding alleged clients, which are based on hearsay, political innuendo and untruths.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli defense ministry on Tuesday also responded to a list of questions by issuing a statement that did not directly address most of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state of Israel regulates marketing and export of cyber products in accordance with the 2007 Defense Export Control Act,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cPolicy decisions regarding export controls take into account security and strategic considerations, which include adherence to international arrangements. As a matter of policy, the state of Israel approves the export of cyber products exclusively to governmental entities, for lawful use, and only for the purpose of preventing and investigating crime and counter terrorism, under end-use\/end-user declarations provided by the acquiring government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly a month into the war, Ukraine\u2019s armed forces \u2013 though massively outnumbered \u2013\u00a0have surprised outside observers\u00a0by containing Russian military advances, even as Russia has bombarded civilian targets and is seeking to\u00a0raze the port city of Mariupol.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian officials declined to comment on Pegasus or their overall efforts to seek powerful surveillance technology.<\/p>\n

But Mykhailo Fedorov, a vice-prime minister who oversees digital technology for Ukraine, said: \u201cThe government of Israel is at this time not participating in any discussion or facilitation regarding offensive tech, but we have ongoing conversations with a lot of the Israeli companies in the market and they\u2019re at various stages. But again, let me say this: we have enough capability to continue winning and we\u2019re adding new tools, including emerging tools, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say\u00a0Israel has political motives to stay close to Russia, from its hopes that Moscow will refrain from signing a revival of the Iran nuclear deal, which is close to completion in Vienna, to its reliance on Russia to mount attacks on Iranian positions inside Syria.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s request for Pegasus was previously reported by Israel\u2019s Channel 12.<\/p>\n

Zelenskiy\u2019s address to the Knesset last weekend was delivered as the government of Israel\u2019s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who is\u00a0brokering negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, has faced criticism for adopting what is in effect a neutral stance on the war. Bennett has spoken directly to Zelenskiy and Putin while his foreign minister has met with his US counterpart, Antony Blinken.<\/p>\n

While Bennett was ultimately persuaded to support a UN general assembly resolution on 2 March to condemn Russia for its illegal invasion, Zelenskiy complained about Israel\u2019s inaction in his Knesset address. Israel also refused to sell its Iron Dome missile defense system to Ukraine last year, the Israeli news organization Ynet recently reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask why we\u2019re not receiving weapons from you, why you haven\u2019t applied sanctions on Russia, and on Russian businesses. You will need to give answers, and to be able to live with those answers,\u201d he said in the address.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has abruptly transformed the world. Millions have already fled. A new Iron Curtain is grinding into place. An economic war deepens, as the military conflict escalates and civilian casualties rise.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s our job at the Guardian to decipher a rapidly changing landscape, particularly when it involves a mounting refugee crisis and the risk of unthinkable escalation. Our correspondents are on the ground in Ukraine covering the war, as well as throughout the world, delivering round-the-clock reporting and analysis during this perilous moment.<\/p>\n

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We know there is no substitute for being there \u2013 and we\u2019ll stay on the ground, as we did during the 1917 revolution, the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, the collapse of 1991 and the first Russo-Ukrainian conflict in 2014. We have an illustrious, 200-year history reporting throughout Europe in times of upheaval, peace and everything in between. We won\u2019t let up now.<\/p>\n

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Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian\u2019s fearless journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. We\u2019d like to invite you to join more than 1.5 million supporters, from 180 countries, who now power us financially \u2013 keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent.<\/p>\n

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Unlike many others, the Guardian has no shareholders and no billionaire owner. Just the determination and passion to deliver high-impact global reporting, always free from commercial or political influence. Reporting like this is vital to establish the facts, who is lying and who is telling the truth.<\/p>\n

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And we provide all this for free, for everyone to read. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of the global events shaping our world, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action. Millions can benefit from open access to quality, truthful news, regardless of their ability to pay for it.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel blocked\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0from buying NSO Group\u2019s Pegasus spyware for fear that Russian officials would be angered by the sale of the sophisticated hacking tool to a regional foe, according to people familiar with the matter. The revelation, following a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel\u2019s relationship with\u00a0Russia\u00a0has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,50,12],"tags":[4791,4836,11261,11264,8311,11830,11394,5717,6044,9331,9233,10767,5487,8440,6197,10876,10391,11538,12246,3943,7704,5692,6621,6458,8057,9127,5345,5575,2264,6566,8697,10840,5626,10321,10954,5252,10197,8230,3095,5179,5657,10742,5572,9683,5595,5254,5571,5340,7029,4802,8000,6666,11973,5396,5243,7039,11082,3805,3174,71,5278,6134,5807,3457,5585,5217,3852,5713,8160,1364,5655,4293,11279,10841,3349,10236,6675,9151,146,1064,5180,5555,5465,1687,6348,585,4592,6886,5251,2354,5724,12790,3954,36,594,9224,6874],"class_list":["post-18713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-technology","category-world-news","tag-abuse","tag-access","tag-accused","tag-allegations","tag-antony-blinken","tag-armed-forces","tag-attacks","tag-billionaire","tag-blinken","tag-city","tag-collapse","tag-conflict","tag-counter-terrorism","tag-crisis","tag-cyber","tag-dating","tag-declined","tag-digital","tag-diplomatic","tag-dome","tag-espionage","tag-estonia","tag-europe","tag-famine","tag-fear","tag-february","tag-foreign-minister","tag-france","tag-government","tag-grants","tag-hacking","tag-human-rights","tag-hungary","tag-illegal","tag-international","tag-invasion","tag-investigation","tag-iron-dome","tag-israel","tag-knesset","tag-mariupol","tag-market","tag-military","tag-millions","tag-ministry-of-defense","tag-missile","tag-missile-defense-system","tag-moscow","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-nato","tag-negotiations","tag-nuclear","tag-one","tag-peace","tag-pegasus","tag-phone","tag-port","tag-president","tag-prime-minister","tag-putin","tag-quality","tag-refugee","tag-risk","tag-russia","tag-russia-invasion","tag-russian","tag-russians","tag-sanctions","tag-saudi","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-security","tag-spain","tag-spying","tag-surveillance","tag-syria","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-terrorism","tag-truth","tag-uganda","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian","tag-un","tag-un-general-assembly","tag-us","tag-us-open","tag-volodomyr-zelenskiy","tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy","tag-war","tag-washington","tag-weapons","tag-weekend","tag-will","tag-world","tag-who","tag-ynet","tag-zelenskiy"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}