An Irish NGO claimed Monday that an Israeli spyware was used to hack into the cellular phones of six Palestinian Arab activists involved in groups Israel has linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization.
Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based group, claimed that the cell phones of attorney Salah Hammaouri and five other Arab activists were hacked, and that the hacks appeared to have been carried out using Pegasus, a spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group.
Israel has argued that six organizations - Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International – Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees – are front groups for the PFLP, and recently declared them outlawed terror organizations.
While posing as “civil society organizations,” Israel claimed, the six groups “in practice belong and constitute an arm of the [PFLP] leadership, the main activity of which is the liberation of Palestine and destruction of Israel.”
Of the activists identified by the Front Line Defenders’ report, four have ties to six of the aforementioned PFLP-linked groups.
The NSO Group declined to respond to the report, saying that it is under both contractual and security obligations not to divulge information which could identify its customers.
The Israeli government also has yet to respond to the report.
If confirmed, the hacks are the latest high-profile incidents involving the Pegasus spyware.
The alleged use of Pegasus to hack into the devices of senior French officials, including President Emmanuel Macron, sparked a diplomatic row with Israel.