Israeli police launch probe into spyware use against citizens

Israel's police announced Thursday the launch of an internal investigation into a media report claiming that the police used the controversial spyware against citizens, reported Xinhua.

Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai wrote on Twitter that after Calcalist, a daily Israeli financial newspaper, published the report on Tuesday, the police immediately began "a rigorous internal investigation."

He added that the investigation "has not yielded any findings indicating an alleged deviation from the provisions of the law."

Facing public criticism and calls by lawmakers for a parliamentary investigation of the case, Shabtai said that he has instructed another person to open another investigation.

The investigation will be carried out in collaboration with Israel's General-Attorney Avichai Mandelblit.

Calcalist reported that the police have used Israeli spyware company NSO Group's Pegasus spyware in 2020 to hack the phones of protesters, mayors and other citizens.

The NSO Group has not commented on the report yet. It drew international criticism after its phone-hacking tool Pegasus had been misused by several governments around the world to target officials, journalists, activists, and academics.

In November last year, the company was blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department over its engagement "in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."