Report: Ben Salman calls Netanyahu to renew NSO software license for Saudi Arabia

Guy Elster

28/01/2022

Friday, 28 January 2022, 13:23 Updated: 13:29

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Saudi Arabia's heir to the throne, Muhammad bin Salman, has asked former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for assistance in renewing NSO's use of Pegasus spyware - in exchange for opening Saudi airspace to Israeli aircraft, the New York Times reported today (Friday).

According to the report, the request to Netanyahu was in a telephone conversation with the regent, about a month after the signing of the normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia may not have been a part of them, but it gave its tacit consent.

The New York Times reported that Ben Salman contacted Netanyahu directly after the Department of Defense refused to renew the use of the spyware, which has been found on the phones of Saudi and other dissidents in recent years - including among Israeli citizens.

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Tags

• Saudi Arabia

• Muhammad bin Salman

• NSO

• Benjamin Netanyahu