A key figure in the corruption trial of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been illegally intercepted by police, according to reports, amid global controversy over Israeli-made spyware and how it has been used.
In a recording broadcast by Channel 12 news, police are heard allegedly discussing the tapping of a phone belonging to Shlomo Filber, a former Netanyahu ally turned state witness. “It’s like it’s illegal… to install the app,” says a police officer.
The claim came days after Israeli officials admitted that, contrary to previous denials, they may have found evidence pointing to spyware misuse by their own researchers.
It is not known what spyware was allegedly used in the Netanyahu case.
Netanyahu, who lost power in June after 12 consecutive years as prime minister, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud in three cases in which he was indicted in 2019.
Filber, a former head of the Communications Ministry, is accused of mediating between Netanyahu and the majority shareholder of Bezeq, a telecommunications group, in an alleged plot to trade regulatory favors for positive coverage of Netanyahu on a company-owned news site.
According to Channel 13, the data was extracted from a phone without a court order and included photos, phone numbers, correspondence history and various applications.
A statement issued on behalf of the former prime minister called the claims “Israel’s Watergate.” netanyahu tweeted: “Earthquake. Tonight it was revealed that the police illegally hacked phones to bring down a strong right-wing prime minister.”
For a long time, Israelis have believed themselves immune from state surveillance, and accusations that they have been attacked have shocked the entire country. On Tuesday, Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mendelblit, announced the appointment of an investigative team to investigate possible misuse of spyware by police.
Police declined to comment on the recording that surfaced on Wednesday night, but a spokesman told Agence France-Presse that Israeli police will “fully and transparently cooperate” with the Israel-appointed investigative team. the attorney general.
Last month, NSO Group, which makes controversial surveillance software that can turn on a phone’s camera or microphone and collect its data, neither confirmed nor denied that it sold technologies to the Israeli police, emphasizing that it “does not operate the system.” once sold to its government clients and has no participation in the operation of the system”.
Filber jokingly tweeted Wednesday: “My wife replies, ‘Finally someone is listening to your babble.'”
Israeli media reported last month that Netanyahu was negotiating a plea deal with the attorney general that would include an admission of “moral turpitude,” an offense that carries a seven-year ban from politics. Netanyahu has denied this.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism