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Updated November 11th, 2021 at 20:42 IST

Palestine accuses Israel's company of installing spyware on its officials for spying

Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Thursday, 11 Nov said that it has detected spyware made by an Israeli company on the phones of at least three senior officials

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Israel
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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Palestine's Foreign Ministry on Thursday, 11 November said that it has detected spyware made by an Israeli company on the phones of at least three senior officials. Saying that the spyware was made by Israel’s hacker-for-hire company NSO Group, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry further accused Israel of using military-grade Pegasus software for eavesdropping. The Palestinian accusations against NSO came as the embattled Israel-based firm admitted that it suspended the appointment of its incoming chief executive amid US accusations that its spyware was used by repressive governments across the globe. 

As per AP, it is also the first time that Palestine published accusations against NSO of spying on them. Just earlier this week, the software was detected on the phone of at least six Palestinian human rights activists including three women who worked for civil society organisations which Israel has banned as terrorist entities. The spyware, flagged by Palestinians, can be secretly installed without the victim taking any action and providing full access to their phone including the communications taking place through the device in real-time. 

Palestine criticises Israel for denying US to reopen its consulate

Meanwhile, Palestine has lambasted Isreal over rejecting the planned reopening of the United States consulate in Jerusalem and called Israeli PM Naftali Bennett’s remarks “new challenge” for US President Joe Biden’s administration. On Saturday night, Bennett said, “There is no place for an American consulate serving the Palestinians in Jerusalem” and according to AP, the planned reopening of the consulate would have restored Washington’s main diplomatic mission for the Palestinians in the contested city. 

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that it views the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem as part of the international community’s pledge to end the decades-old occupation of Israel and a future state. The statement added, “East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian territory and is the capital of the state of Palestine. Israel, as the occupying power, does not have the right to veto the US administration’s decision.”

As per Xinhua report, Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh also said that Israeli PM’s remarks “are a new challenge to Biden's administration which has repeatedly announced its intention to reopen the consulate in East Jerusalem.” Palestinian Foreign Ministry even added in the statement that Bennett’s remarks “are a blatant challenge to the decisions and policies of the US government."

(IMAGE: AP)

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Published November 11th, 2021 at 20:42 IST

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