WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The notorious spyware developed by the Zionist NSO Group, Pegasus, is at the center of an international scandal involving the alleged phone hacking of more than 180 journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists from across the world, targeted for the purpose of snooping by authoritarian regimes including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The scale of the hacking, however, uncovered from leaked data, is likely to be much higher. As many as 50,000 phone numbers were said to have been selected for surveillance using the Zionist snooping technology, according to details of the investigation uncovering the hacking by the Pegasus Project, a ground-breaking collaboration by more than 80 journalists from 17 media organizations in ten countries. The group’s work was co-ordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based non-profit media organization, and Amnesty International.
Amongst the targets were some of the world’s top media companies including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the New York Times, Al Jazeera, France 24, Radio Free Europe, Mediapart, El País, Associated Press, Le Monde, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, the Economist, Reuters and Voice of America. Further details on who was targeted are expected to emerge over the coming days.
NSO Group gained notoriety following the killing of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi almost three years ago. Members of his inner circle were targeted by the Zionist spyware which has become the weapon of choice for autocrats against critics and opposition figures. A successful Pegasus infection allows access to all data stored on the device. An attack on a journalist for example could expose a reporter’s confidential sources as well as allowing NSO’s government client to read their messages, harvest their address book, listen to their calls, track their precise movements and even record their conversations by activating the device’s microphone and camera.
Bin Salman has acknowledged that the foul play took place under his watch. The CIA and others have also placed the responsibility for the murder squarely on his shoulders, saying it was carried out by a team that had been directly tasked by the Saudi Royal.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is believed to have selected the editor of the UK’s Financial Times newspaper as well as journalists at The Economist and The Wall Street Journal to be spied on using Zionist spyware, according to a sweeping investigation.
The Guardian and 16 other media organizations collaborated on the investigation into a leaked list of over 50,000 mobile phone numbers selected for possible surveillance by customers of the spyware firm NSO group since 2016.
The Zionist regime runs a hugely infamous spying program, whose reach it has been trying to extend as far as thousands of kilometers beyond the occupied territories.
The regime’s fingerprints have been found on countless murder and sabotage cases around the world.
Tel Aviv has also secured notoriety for trying to have its spy apparatuses maintain an edge over their international counterparts.