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India buys Israeli Pegasus spyware under arms deal: NYT | News

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The Indian government, led by Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, acquired Israeli spies in a 2017 arms deal, according to the New York Times. report.

Government of India denied He bought Israeli-made spyware that was allegedly used to infect the phones of Indian opponents, rights activists and journalists.

A report released on Friday said Pegasus and a missile system were by then the “centers” of a $ 2 billion deal on sophisticated weapons and intelligence tools.

Last year, a study by a consortium of media outlets around the world showed how Israel’s evil spy was being used by governments around the world to spy on dissidents and journalists via mobile phones.

More than 1,000 phone numbers In India, they were among the nearly 50,000 selected worldwide customers for the Israel-based NSO Group, the creator of the Pegasus spyware, which may be of interest.

A report in the New York Times said that after Modi came to power in India, the warming of relations led to the settlement of the lawsuit that day.

“Visit ways [to Israel in 2017] He was remarkably polite, acting with great care for himself and the Prime Minister’s moment [Benjamin] Netanyahu walks barefoot together on a local beach, “the newspaper said.

“Their countries agreed to sell a $ 2 billion package worth of sophisticated weapons and intelligence worth about $ 2 billion, as the focus of the Pegasus and missile system,” he said.

“One month later, Netanyahu paid a strange state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in favor of Israel at the UN Economic and Social Council to deny obsession with a Palestinian human rights organization, the first for the nation.”

Indian Ministry of Defense esana Parliament last year “did not enter into any transactions with NSO Group Technologies”.

But the main opposition party in India has done so accused Government for “betrayal”.

“Modi Govt bought Pegasus to spy on our main democratic institutions, politicians and the public. Government officials, opposition leaders, the armed forces, the judiciary were all targeted by these phone calls. This is betrayal, “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Saturday.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said on Twitter: “Why did the Modi government act like the enemies of India and use a weapon of war against the people of India?”

Al Jazeera tried to contact Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government spokesmen, but the calls were not answered.

A senior minister said in a tweet that the NYT could not be “trusted.”

Last October, the Supreme Court of India form a three-member panel To investigate the alleged use of Israeli spyware for surveillance in India.

Global controversy

The NSO team, which does not disclose its list of clients, has been embroiled in controversy in recent years by researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, along with rights groups and the media, following investigations into the government’s use of technology. to access the mobile phones of political opponents, activists and journalists around the world.

It has been done by the Government of Israel move away After the US blacklisted the technology company at the end of last year.

After months of investigation, the NYT also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation also tested the spyware for “years” with the intent to use it for home surveillance until the agency decided not to release the tools last year.

According to the newspaper report, there could have been many ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists directed Through Pegasus software.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said one of its main employees was targeted five times last year with Pegasus.

The software was used against Lama Fakih, the Beirut office manager for the New York group, which oversees the crisis response in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Israel, Myanmar, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria and the U.S., among others, HRW said.



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