Phones of six members of Palestinian human rights organizations were hacked with the notorious spyware Pegasus, a new report said. The Israeli government designated the organizations as terrorists.
The designation was likely meant to give a post-factum justification for the use of the spyware, which the producer says is restricted to law enforcement operations against terrorism and crime, the Ireland-based NGO that identified the intrusions said.
The accusations against the Israeli government came on Monday from Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based human rights group. It said a Palestinian group tuned to them on October 16, after suspecting that an activist’s phone may have been hacked. The Irish group confirmed his suspicion and swiped a total of 75 iPhones used by various pro-Palestinian activists for signs of similar attacks, discovering five additional phones had been compromised.
The earliest detected intrusion happened in July 2020. The most recent hacks happened in April 2021 and targeted three phones. The forensic analysis indicated that the phones were broken into with Pegasus, a military-grade spyware toolkit developed by the Israeli firm NSO.
Front Line Defenders’ conclusions were confirmed by Citizens Lab and Amnesty International’s Security Lab, both of which have extensive records of identifying and exposing alleged cases of Pegasus deployment.
Also in October, the Israeli government designated six Palestinian rights groups, to which the targeted activists belonged, as terrorist organizations. The controversial decision was taken by the civilian government, but reportedly not supported by the IDF, which means that the six NGOs remain legal in the military-administered West Bank.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli State Prosecutor’s Office has no intention of filing any indictment against members of the group, which casts additional doubt on the strength of the evidence against them that the Israeli government alleges to have. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Israel failed to show European governments any credible proof to justify the terrorist label.
Sources in the Israeli government said the goal was to dismantle financial support of Palestinian terrorism by cutting European funding of the six NGOs. Front Line Defenders believes that the real motive for the decision was to justify the use of Pegasus against Palestinian rights activists.
“The Israeli designation of these organizations as ‘terrorists’ after Pegasus was detected, but just days before this investigation is reported, appears to be a clear effort to cover its actions and disconnected from any evidence that would discredit these organizations,” the report said.
The Irish group called for continued funding of Palestinian groups and said European nations should join the US in blacklisting NSO. Last week, Washington banned the developer of Pegasus along with three other software firms from trading with US companies without a special license.
The Biden administration cited evidence that NSO supplied its software to “foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, artists, activists, academics, and embassy workers.” The accusations of widespread shady use of Pegasus were reinforced earlier this year by multiple media outlets, which investigated how NSO’s flagship product was used. The firm denied any wrongdoing, stating that it has strong safeguards in place to prevent misuse of its spyware.
If you like this story, share it with a friend!
source: RT
Împotriva articolelor redacției noastre, persoanele nemulțumite pot formula Contestație în termen de 10 zile de la publicarea articolului, la judecătoria Orășenească nr. 1 München Bayern Deutschland, in conformitate cu Legea federală Germană. Considerăm că nu se pot formula acțiuni la instanțele din România deoarece nici o persoană care activează în trustul nostru nu poate fi extrasă de sub jurisdicția federală germană. Considerăm că redacția noastră nu răspunde în fața autorităților din România ci doar celor federale sau civile germane. deoarece legea română nu are efecte de extraneitate asupra redacției chiar dacă subiectul știrilor face obiectul unor evenimente sau persoane din România și sunt scrise în limba română. Limba română nu este izvor de extraneitate a legii.
absolvent WEB DESIGN Academia Britanică de Comunicare Iasi - absolvent COMUNICARE IN AFACERI Academia Britanica de Afaceri si Comunicare -absolvent JURNALISM EDITORIAL - London School University - 2019 inscris la echivalare diploma la Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara - absolvent studii de Drept Universitatea Europeană Drăgan, cursuri in Drept la Universitatea de Vest Timisoara, absolvent studii de proiectare, pastor coordonator in Biserica Protestanta Evanghelica,
Android Developer pe Google Play și plugin developer la Oxwall, creator de teme Wordpress și Oxwall, operator Wordpress, Drupal, Oxwall, Osclass, Moodle, tehnologii HTML și PHP
Two crew members of a British cargo ship that collided with a Danish ship in the Baltic Sea were revealed to have been drunk when the incident, which led to at least one fatality, occurred. The two ships collided in the Baltic Sea on Monday, resulting in at least one death from the Danish ship’s […]
France’s best-known book of words, Le Petit Robert dictionary, has caused a stir by including the non-binary personal pronoun as an alternative to the existing masculine and feminine terms. While the annual update of the Petit Robert dictionary is often a topic of considerable debate in French media, the latest edition has caused quite the […]
The instrument is made using components including steamed pear, berries, and spring water Padraig ó Dubhlaoidh, a craftsman based in Malvern, England, has unveiled the world’s first-ever vegan violin. The artisan used natural replacements such as steamed pear, berries, and spring water, instead of animal-based glues to create the instrument, valued at £8,000. The steamed […]
