Israel: police and prosecutors swap allegations over spyware probe

Police in Israel have accused the Public Prosecution Service of causing a crisis of confidence between police officers and local citizens, Sama news agency reported on Sunday. The accusation follows reports revealed about the police use of the notorious Pegasus spyware against up to 100 key Israeli figures, including municipality heads.

Israel’s Channel 13 reported on Wednesday that Israeli police hacked the phone of a person involved in a case against Benjamin Netanyahu, causing an “earthquake” in the investigations into the corruption cases involving the former prime minister.

According to Israel Hayom, a senior source alleged that the crisis of confidence has arisen because “Public Prosecution officials follow up” all the investigations closely. “They are partners in all applications for espionage and the judicial orders needed for them. They are the monitoring body and they are now claiming that they did not know anything.”

An unnamed senior police official apparently told Channel 12 that an unspecified number of other people connected to the Netanyahu cases were targeted by police using spyware. “The State Prosecutor’s Office was aware. It’s not just Filber. There are others, and everything was done with the approval and authorisation [of the state prosecution].”

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Shlomo Filber is a former director-general of the Communications Ministry and a confidant of Netanyahu; he is a state witness in Case 4000 against the ex-prime minister. The claim that spyware was used against him was also reported by Israel Hayom, which quoted the senior source as saying: “The Public Prosecution does not say the truth. It knew and approved the use of the spyware and planted it in Filber’s phone with the approval of the Public Prosecutor Avichai Mandelblit.”

Such claims, said the Times of Israel, contradict anonymous prosecution officials who have been quoted in recent days claiming that police investigators used phone hacking software illicitly without their knowledge.