Israel blocked Ukrainian effort to get spyware over fears of upsetting Russia: report

The Israeli government blocked Ukraine from acquiring the Pegasus spyware system out of fear of upsetting Russia, The Washington Post reported.

Israel’s Defense Exports Controls Agency rejected a potential license that would have permitted the Israeli tech company NSO Group to offer Ukraine a license for its Pegasus spyware, sources familiar with the matter told the Post.

The sources told the newspaper that Israeli officials wanted to avoid potentially provoking Russia, whose military was helping Syria combat a rebellion near Israel’s northeastern border at the time.

The timing of when the license was rejected is unclear, the Post reported, though sources said it could have happened as far back as 2019.

The Hill has reached out to the Israeli government for comment.

In a statement to the Post, the Israeli Defense Ministry, which was once headed by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, acknowledged that multiple factors are taken into consideration when a license for Pegasus is granted.

“Policy decisions regarding export controls take into account security and strategic considerations, which include adherence to international arrangements,” the ministry said.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, declined to confirm if his country had tried to acquire Pegasus, but did say that Ukraine was seeking Israeli technology.

“The government of Israel is at this time not participating in any discussion or facilitation regarding offensive tech, but we have ongoing conversations with a lot of the Israeli companies in the market and they’re at various stages,” Fedorov told the newspaper. “But again, let me say this: We have enough capability to continue winning and we’re adding new tools, including emerging tools, every day.”

Last year, NSO’s Pegasus software came under scrutiny after an investigation conducted by 17 media organizations, including the Post, found that it had been used to hack the phones of journalists, activists and government officials. The U.S. Commerce Department effectively blacklisted NSO Group last year.

At the time, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said this action was made as part of the department’s efforts to “hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad.”

Israel has so far refrained from joining other nations in imposing sanctions against Russia over its attack on Ukraine.

Bennett has reportedly been working to arrange peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, seeking to act as a neutral mediator similar to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that Israel would be a good place for peace talks with Russia to take place.

“We are grateful for [Bennett’s] efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem,” Zelensky said. “That’s the right place to find peace. If possible.”