Pegasus intel project brings Israel more trouble
With the NSO affair continuing to develop, Israel — the world champion of cyber technologies — might get into significant diplomatic trouble precisely because of that.
The Pegasus Project affair brings back to the headlines Israel’s glorious status as the leader in cyber technology and champion of intelligence gathering. But the line separating glory from ignominy is often blurred and fragile in the Middle East. Israel is the region’s “cyber queen” and is ranked among the world’s top cyber powers. It is also considered a global “intelligence silo” based on the capabilities of the Mossad, the unbelievably creative technologies of the military’s famed unit 8200 and its national cyber expertise. Still, as we saw this week, things could get complicated.
Israel, as all of its allies know, leverages its intelligence assets in order to forge alliances and establish relations, security cooperation and even peace agreements. It not only shares intelligence with other countries (bar information damaging to its own interests), but it also helps other regimes and leaks tips and reports potentially helpful to various leaders. In Jordan’s case (according to reports in past years), it has helped the Hashemite family thwart assassination and other subversive plots against the monarchy.
The new era offers a particularly powerful intelligence tool: cyber power. Senior Israeli cyber experts believe that distinct government footprints underpin the scandal rocking world capitals in recent days that involves the use of the Israeli spyware Pegasus, which was developed by Israel’s NSO cyber company. According to these experts, Israel leverages its cyber capacity and “traded” spyware tools, among them NSO’s Pegasus, with other countries in the Middle East.
A source in Israel’s cyber industry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his close associate, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen, “met with Middle Eastern leaders and hinted that they would permit them to buy the best attack cyber ware that Israel had to offer as a special ‘bonus’ for establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel.” The issue of Israel’s responsibility for abuse of these cyber tools by other states will undoubtedly feature prominently in discussions around the world.
