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NSO has appealed to the government for assistance in removing US sanctions
President of his offensive cyber company Julio sent a "secret" letter to Prime Minister Bennett and Ministers Lapid, Ganz and Lieberman in which he emphasized that government backing for the company is a "basic condition" for its removal from the US blacklist.
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NSO
Lightning Ravid
Thursday, 11 November 2021, 19:38
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In the video: The offices of the Israeli cyber company NSO (Photo: Reuters)
The cyber company NSO, which was blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce last week, asked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to mobilize the state to help them lift sanctions from the United States, according to two senior Israeli officials involved.
An Israeli official who read the letter noted that it was sent on Tuesday by his NSO president Julio to Prime Minister Bennett with copies to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Bnei Gantz and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman. For no apparent reason Julio classified the letter as "secret."
Julio notes in the letter that the company was surprised by the American decision.
He claims that the Biden administration's decision to impose sanctions on the NSO came after a timed campaign by anti-Israel organizations seeking to harm Israeli companies for political reasons.
He further emphasized in the letter that the US sanctions for NSO could mean the dismissal of hundreds of Israeli workers.
He therefore requests in the letter that the Israeli government mobilize to assist the company and emphasizes that "this is a basic condition" for the abolition of American sanctions.
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Enter the blacklist.
NSO (Photo: AP)
Last week, the US Department of Commerce announced that NSO and another Israeli cyber company called Candiro would be added to the list of companies working against the US security interest. Meaning the process is imposing restrictions on the activities of US companies, causing them economic damage and serious image. Once sanctions anyone who wants to work with the US NSO must obtain a license from the Ministry of Commerce that the US.
The Americans explained their decision by governments around the world are using cyber program NSO's offensive known as "Pegasus" to spy on human rights activists, opposition activists and journalists with the aim of suppressing criticism of the regime and undermining democracy.
The Biden administration informed the Israeli government of its decision about an hour before its publication in the media.
Senior officials from the State Department, the Department of Defense and the Prime Minister's Office held a consultation last week on how to respond to the U.S. decision.
At first the possibility of protesting against the Americans and demanding the annulment of the decision was considered but then it was decided not to intervene on behalf of the NSO at this stage.
However, senior State Department officials in Jerusalem approached senior officials at the US State Department and expressed resentment over the way the Americans published the announcement regarding the NSO and the fact that an advance notice was given to Israel only an hour before the publication in the media.
"The Americans know how to complain that we do not update them, even when we do update. But in this case, they are the ones who did not update," said a senior Israeli official.
(Photo: Flash 90, Olbia Fitoussi)
Senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Defense and the State Department denied the publication in the New York Times and Yedioth Ahronoth earlier this week that Israel intends to put pressure on the US administration in favor of the NSO and remove it from the blacklist.
Senior Israeli officials claim that it was the US administration that approached Israel in parallel with the decision to put the NSO on the blacklist and offered to hold a dialogue on the issue of offensive cyber in general.
Israel responded to the US with an official proposal to open a dialogue on the issue.
"We want to talk about this with the Americans in order to first of all make sure that there is no damage to the relationship between the State of Israel and the American administration because of this whole affair," said a senior Israeli official.
"We would also like to hear if the Americans have information about the NSO that we also need to know."
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