{"id":15408,"date":"2018-11-28T12:22:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T12:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=15408"},"modified":"2018-11-28T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-28T12:22:17","slug":"amnesty-urges-revocation-of-israeli-cyber-firms-license-over-pegasus-spyware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/amnesty-urges-revocation-of-israeli-cyber-firms-license-over-pegasus-spyware\/","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty urges revocation of Israeli cyber firm\u2019s license over Pegasus spyware"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Amnesty International\u00a0has called on the Israeli ministry of military affairs to suspend the license of a cyber firm\u00a0which was reportedly in talks with Saudi Arabia to\u00a0sell super-stealth spyware to the country and amid revelations that the company\u2019s software had been used in \u201ca series of egregious human rights violations.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amnesty International Israel\u00a0said in a statement that Israeli cyberarms firm\u00a0NSO Group \u201chas gone out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources in the Israeli ministry later said it was strict about granting licenses according to the law, and that they could not discuss the existence of NSO’s license for security reasons.<\/p>\n

Amnesty Israel rejected the response and said it intended to pursue legal action.<\/p>\n

The development came on the heels of a report published by the Israeli English-language Haaretz daily newspaper that NSO representatives offered Pegasus 3 technology to\u00a0high-profile Saudi officials back in 2017.<\/p>\n

The report, citing a complaint filed with\u00a0the Israeli police by\u00a0an unnamed European businessman,\u00a0noted that the Saudi officials included former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal and Nasser al-Qahtani, who presented himself as the deputy of the current intelligence chief.<\/p>\n

\"\"
In this file picture, human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor shows the Associated Press Journalists a screenshot a spoof text message he received in Ajman, the United Arab Emirates. (Photo by the Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The businessman insists that the Pegasus 3 affair began when he was contacted by an Israeli man\u00a0dealing in\u00a0cyber-defense technologies and identified only as W., who\u00a0asked him to\u00a0use his connections in\u00a0the Persian Gulf states to\u00a0help do business in\u00a0the region.<\/p>\n

During a series of\u00a0meetings, Saudi officials presented a list of\u00a0software they sought to\u00a0obtain to\u00a0hack into\u00a0the phones of\u00a0pro-democracy campaigners, Muslim preachers and intellectuals in\u00a0Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

In the summer of\u00a02017, W. negotiated a deal to\u00a0sell NSO’s Pegasus 3 system to\u00a0the Saudis for $55 million.<\/p>\n

Despite an oral agreement with\u00a0W., the European businessman says that the latter started ignoring his phone calls, when he asked for\u00a0his 5-percent commission ($2.75 million). The businessman filed the complaint in\u00a0April this year and has since\u00a0been interrogated by\u00a0the Israeli police’s fraud department and contacted by\u00a0income tax authorities.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, former US National Security Agency contractor and whistle-blower Edward Snowden said Saudi Arabia may have used software made by an Israeli cyber firm to track prominent dissident journalist\u00a0Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed after visiting the kingdom\u2019s consulate in Turkey\u2019s largest city of Istanbul\u00a0in early October.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
PressTV-\u2018Saudis may have used Israeli spyware to track Khashoggi\u2019<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Edward Snowden says Israel’s Pegasus spyware may have helped Saudi officials track dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/a><\/div>\n

Addressing a conference in Tel Aviv via a video call from Russia, Snowden said Pegasus spyware was used to track opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Saudis, of course, knew that Khashoggi was going to go to the consulate, as he got an appointment. But how did they know his intention and plans?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Snowden went on to say that the smartphone of one of Khashoggi’s friends, who was living in exile in Canada, had been infected with Pegasus spyware.<\/p>\n

He said the software allowed the Saudis to collect information about Khashoggi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is that they pursued some of his friends through a program written by the Israeli company,\u201d Snowden pointed out.<\/p>\n

Khashoggi was killed on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.<\/p>\n

Once inside, he was immediately strangled and then dismembered, according to the Istanbul Prosecutor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

A senior Turkish official told\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0on November 2 that the slain journalist\u2019s body was destroyed in acid on the grounds of the\u00a0Saudi\u00a0consulate or at the nearby residence of the\u00a0Saudi\u00a0consul general.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
PressTV-CIA has recording of MBS call to ‘silence’ Khashoggi<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The CIA is in possession of a taped phone call between MBS and his brother discussing the need to \u201csilence\u201d Khashoggi.<\/a><\/div>\n

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said biological evidence discovered in the diplomatic mission garden supports the theory that\u00a0Khashoggi\u2019s body was disposed of close to where he was killed and dismembered.<\/p>\n

\u201cKhashoggi\u2019s body was not in need of burying,\u201d the official was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

Khashoggi, a distinguished commentator on Saudi affairs who wrote for\u00a0The Washington Post\u2019s Global Opinions section, had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since September 2017, when he left Saudi Arabia over\u00a0fears of the Riyadh regime\u2019s crackdown on critical voices.<\/p>\n

His death has subjected the Riyadh regime and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to strict scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Hatice Cengiz,\u00a0the journalist’s fianc\u00e9e, has accused Saudi officials of a massive cover-up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amnesty International\u00a0has called on the Israeli ministry of military affairs to suspend the license of a cyber firm\u00a0which was reportedly in talks with Saudi Arabia to\u00a0sell super-stealth spyware to the country and amid revelations that the company\u2019s software had been used in \u201ca series of egregious human rights violations.\u201d\u00a0 Amnesty International Israel\u00a0said in a statement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":15409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-lectures","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15410,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15408\/revisions\/15410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}