Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke on Monday in Glasgow with Emmanuel Macron of the Israeli company NSO behind the Pegasus software, suspected of having hacked the phones of the president and other French officials, AFP told AFP. diplomatic source in Jerusalem.
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Mr. Bennett, a former Israeli tech tenor who succeeded Benjamin Netanyahu as head of the Israeli government in June, met Mr. Macron for the first time on the sidelines of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
The two men raised the issue of the Iranian nuclear program and bilateral issues during this "
cordial
" and "
warm
" meeting, said the services of the Israeli Prime Minister.
“
Mr. Bennett raised the NSO file during his meeting with President Macron.
The two leaders agreed that this issue must continue to be dealt with in a discreet and professional manner, and in the interests of transparency between the parties,
”a diplomatic source said in Jerusalem.
The NSO group found itself exposed this summer after investigations published by a consortium of 17 international media outlets, revealing that its Pegasus software would have made it possible to spy on the numbers of journalists, politicians, activists or business leaders from different countries.
Once installed in a mobile phone, Pegasus allows you to spy on its user, accessing their mailboxes, their data, or activating the device remotely for the purpose of capturing sound or images.
According to information from the consortium, a number of Emmanuel Macron, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and 14 members of the government appeared in the list of numbers selected by a security service of the Moroccan state.
The mobile phones of at least five French ministers and a diplomat attached to the Elysee were infected with the spyware, had explained several sources familiar with the matter.
At the end of July, a delegation led by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz traveled to Paris to discuss the NSO group.
A senior NSO official then argued that President Macron had not been targeted.
And on October 22, the Elysee had reported discussions between Emmanuel Bonne, a close collaborator of Mr. Macron and Eyal Hulata, national security adviser to Mr. Bennett.
According to the specialized site Axios, Eyal Hulata had come to Paris to make proposals to try to ease tensions between the two countries after the revelations of the French side of the Pegasus affair.
On Sunday, the NSO Group announced that its founder Shalev Hulio was stepping down from his role as CEO to become “
global chairman
” and vice chairman of the board.
He is replaced by Isaac Benbenisti.
Pegasus software must, like military hardware, obtain an export license from the Israeli Defense Ministry in order to be sold to a foreign state.