*Is the experts' committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India to look into the charges made by a few of the prominent Indian victims of the war-grade spyware taking note???* *Is it even functioning?*
<<Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has hit out at the Centre, saying that it has committed treason while reacting to a New York Times report which claimed that the Indian government bought the Pegasus spy tool in 2017 as part of a deal with Israel. "*Modi Govt bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions, politicians and public. Govt functionaries, opposition leaders, armed forces, judiciary all were targeted by these phone tappings. This is treason. Modi Govt has committed treason*. [Emphasis added.]", Gandhi wrote. According to the report in The New York Times, the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the "centerpieces" of a roughly USD 2-billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017.>> (Excerpted from: < https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/this-is-treason-rahul-gandhi-hits-out-at-centre-over-nyt-pegasus-report >.) <<It [i.e. the penal trade ban by the US against the NSO in very early November last] was a very public rebuke of a company that had in many ways become the crown jewel of the Israeli defense industry. Now, without access to the American technology it needed to run its operations — including Dell computers and Amazon cloud servers — it risked being unable to function. The United States delivered the news to Israel’s Ministry of Defense less than an hour before it was made public. Israeli officials were furious. Many of the headlines focused on the specter of an out-of-control private company, one based in Israel but largely funded offshore. But authorities in Israel reacted as if the ban were an attack on the state itself. “The people aiming their arrows against NSO,” said Yigal Unna, director general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate until Jan. 5, “are actually aiming at the blue and white flag hanging behind it." ... The combination of Israel’s search for influence and NSO’s drive for profits has also led to the powerful spying tool’s ending up in the hands of a new generation of nationalist leaders worldwide. Though the Israeli government’s oversight was meant to prevent the powerful spyware from being used in repressive ways, *Pegasus has been sold to Poland, Hungary and India* [emphasis added], despite those countries’ questionable records on human rights. ... As cyberweapons began to eclipse fighter jets in the schemes of military planners, a different kind of weapons industry emerged in Israel. Veterans of Unit 8200 — Israel’s equivalent of the National Security Agency — poured into secretive start-ups in the private sector, giving rise to a multibillion-dollar cybersecurity industry. As with purveyors of conventional weapons, cyberweapons makers are required to obtain export licenses from Israel’s Ministry of Defense to sell their tools abroad, providing a crucial lever for the government to influence the firms and, in some cases, the countries that buy from them. ... In a statement, Netanyahu’s spokesman said that the former prime minister never sought a quid pro quo when other countries wanted to buy Pegasus. “The claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to foreign leaders and offered them such systems in exchange for political or other measures is a complete and utter lie. All sales of this system or similar products of Israeli companies to foreign countries are conducted with the approval and supervision of the Ministry of Defense, as outlined in Israeli law.” [This denial, in the subject case, is a confirmation of sorts.] ... NSO was doubling its sales every year — $15 million, $30 million, $60 million. That growth attracted the attention of investors. In 2014, Francisco Partners, a U.S.-based global investment firm, paid $130 million for 70 percent of NSO’s shares, then merged another Israeli cyberweapons firm, called Circles, into their new acquisition. Founded by a former senior AMAN officer, Circles offered clients access to a vulnerability that allowed them to detect the location of any mobile phone in the world — a vulnerability discovered by Israeli intelligence 10 years earlier. The combined company could offer more services to more clients than ever. ... *In July 2017, Narendra Modi, who won office on a platform of Hindu nationalism, became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. For decades, 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 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 $2 billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces. Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel at the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, a first for the nation*. [Emphasis added.]>> (Excerpted from: < https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/magazine/nso-group-israel-spyware.html>.) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZjbQBZv0BLV71KAh4q2Fe0OxXsNn2sujvHQuTyKuRsxVg%40mail.gmail.com.
