The NSO spyware Pegasus, a source of diplomatic embarrassment for Israel for months, was apparently also used by Israel police.

An investigative report published Jan. 18 by the financial Calcalist newspaper claims that the police purchased the software in 2013, under then-Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino, and actually started using it in 2015, when former Shin Bet senior Roni Alsheikh served as police commissioner. The software allegedly served the secret police cyber brigade named Signet. The report further claims that police used Pegasus to hack phones not only of criminals but also of activists and other civilians, without court authorization or the control of a judge.

The report offers the example of the Black Flag protests of 2020 against then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Police allegedly planted the Pegasus spyware in phones of some movement leaders remotely, in order to listen on their conversations and monitor their written exchanges.

The report also cites an unnamed mayor, suspected in criminal involvement. His phone was hacked with Pegasus, without a court order, while investigation was still undercover, yielding some incriminating information. When police decided to open a formal investigation against the mayor, it presented the incriminating information as intelligence material from anonymous or secret sources. When the court officially authorized an investigation, police proceeded to seize the incriminating materials openly.