New York: Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the “focal points” of the nearly two billion dollar arms and intelligence equipment deal between India-Israel in 2017. America’s daily newspaper ‘The New York Times’ claimed this in one of its news.
Controversy erupted last year after some governments, including India, allegedly used NSO Group’s Pegasus software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and others. This had raised concerns about privacy issues.
The New York Times reported in a report titled ‘The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon’ that the Israeli company NSO Group has been around for almost a decade with the claim that “its spy software is being distributed to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world”. It was selling” that it can do the work that no one else can do. The news also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in July 2017. This was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel.
read also
The spyware Pegasus and a missile system were “centerpieces” in the nearly $2 billion arms and intelligence equipment deal between India and Israel, the news said. “For decades, India had maintained a policy of “commitment to the Palestinian cause” and relations with Israel were cold, the report said. Modi’s visit was particularly cordial. A glimpse of this was seen while walking barefoot on a local beach with his (then Israel) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu.
According to the news, “He had reason to express his warm feelings. Their countries had agreed to an arms and intelligence equipment deal worth about US$2 billion, with Pegasus and a missile system at its center.” According to the news, “Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted to deny observer status to the Palestinian human rights organization, backing Israel at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. India has done this for the first time.
PTI-Bhasha sought the government’s response to the New York Times news, but got no response. Last year, controversy erupted over the use of the Israeli spyware Pegasus in India to target people for surveillance. In October, the Supreme Court, setting up a 3-member independent expert committee to probe the matter, said the government could not avoid questions every time it was a national security threat.
Israel, meanwhile, distanced itself from the Pegasus controversy in November last year, when the US blacklisted spyware maker NSO Group. Israel had said that it is a private company and it has nothing to do with the policies of the Israeli government. (agency)