Following the exacerbation of the Pegasus scandal, Israel tightens the terms of sale of its electronic systems

The Israeli Defense Ministry said on Monday that countries interested in buying its electronic technology will have to commit to using it only to prevent a limited list of terrorist acts and serious crimes, and the announcement comes after the exacerbation of the scandal of the Israeli company "NSO" (NSO) that produces the electronic spyware program "Pagasus" ).

The Israeli Defense Ministry's watchdog agency, which is in charge of monitoring military exports, announced that "the definition of dangerous crimes, dangerous acts and terrorist acts has been revised to avoid blurring the lines."

An updated certificate issued by the Israeli Ministry of Defense states that all countries must sign it in order to obtain electronic products that allow information collection. Serious” which refers to offenses for which a court sentence is issued for a term of imprisonment of not less than 6 years.

Prohibited Uses

The certificate also explains prohibited uses of Israeli software, such as targeting individuals for political affiliations or applications that violate that country's privacy laws, for which Israel can revoke licenses to those countries, and shut down the software's operating systems.

Tel Aviv has been under pressure to curb its exports of spyware since last July, when 17 international media organizations published a survey in which they concluded that the Pegasus program was used to hack or attempt to hack the phones of heads of state such as French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as dozens of others. Among the journalists, government officials, and human rights activists in several countries.

In early November, the US Department of Commerce decided to include the Israeli “NSO” company on the blacklist of companies that pose a threat to American national security, and a number of major American companies, such as Apple and Meta, which owns the WhatsApp application, filed lawsuits against the Israeli company, to prevent Infiltrate the clients of these companies.

All of these developments prompted Israel to review the Defense Ministry's electronic technology export policy. Last month, it was reported that Israel reduced the list of countries eligible to purchase its electronic technology.

NSO has denied any wrongdoing, saying that it sells its tools only to governments and law enforcement agencies to fight criminals and terrorists, and that it has safeguards in place to prevent misuse of the Pegasus software.