India bought controversial Israeli spyware Pegasus as part of USD 2-billion arms deal in 2017: NYT
India bought controversial Israeli-made Pegasus spyware in 2017 as part of a USD 2-billion defence deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear, according to a new report published by The New York Times.
India had reportedly signed the arms deal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to Israel – the first by an Indian Prime Minister to that country.
The report titled ‘The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon’, claimed that the spyware, which is classified as military-grade software and produced by the Israeli firm NSO Group, was part of a “package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD two billion” between India and Israel.
The NYT report said that PM Modi’s visit came even as “India had maintained a policy” of what it called “commitment to the Palestinian cause,” and “relations with Israel were frosty.”
“The Modi visit, however, was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him and Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach. They had reason for the warm feelings. Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD two billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces.”
The report further mentioned that months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India and in June 2019, “India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, a first for the nation.”
‘Several countries bought Pegasus’
Besides India, several other countries including the United States, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Hungary had bought Pegasus to spy on politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others, the newspaper reported, citing a year-long investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the US had bought and tested the spyware “for years with plans to use it for domestic surveillance until the agency finally decided last year not to deploy the tools”, NYT reported.
The report said that the NSO Group had for nearly a decade been “selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, promising that it could do what no one else — not a private company, not even a state intelligence service — could do: consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone.”
Row over Pegasus
A political storm erupted after n international media consortium had last year reported that more than 300 verified mobile phone numbers of eminent personalities, including opposition leaders and ministers in India could have been allegedly targeted for hacking through Israeli Pegasus spyware sold only to government agencies.
The BJP government has categorically dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people, saying attempts were being made to “malign” Indian democracy.
In October last year, the Supreme Court constituted a three-member independent expert panel to probe the alleged use of the Israeli spyware Pegasus, observing the state cannot get a “free pass” every time the spectre of national security is raised and that its mere invocation cannot render the judiciary a “mute spectator” and be the bugbear it shies away from.
